This one grows on you, and rather slowly. At first, Return To New York sounds like a mashup project of a decidedly niche variety, combining Kate Bush's tone and phrasing with the "antique beat" style popularized by The Real Tuesday Weld. While the vocal phrasing, compliments of chanteuse AK von Malmborg, inevitably invites comparisons to Bush's delicate yet sensual style, the vintage synth music (which relies heavily on notoriously stubborn-yet-irreplaceable classics like the mellotron, the optigan, and the orchestran) draws heavily upon Portishead's trip-hop legacy. There are none of Portishead's sinister chords or dark musings here, though: Malmborg and her collaborator, Mattias Olsson, have a lighter touch when it comes to layering their compositions, and seem disinterested in the "wall of creaky, vaguely disconcerting sounds" approach.

In practical terms, this means that Ak-Momo's music is quite distinct from that of the bands to whom you'd be inclined to compare them. It would be remiss to avoid the name Goldfrapp in this discussion, for example, but even in the lineup of influences already established in this review, it would be easy to pick out Ak-Momo's mugshot. There's more sex, for instance, in some of Return to NY's numbers than the other bands have touched on in their entire careers. Take "Only the Stars", for instance -- a truly sweet (and sonically intriguing) effort that only heightens its effect by refusing to turn away from the act it describes: "We lay on the hill / In Greenwich Park / The night stood still / And on the grass so dark / I fucked you and you fucked me / So tenderly / And only the stars were watching." Even a slight substitution, "made love", for example, would compromise the intimacy of the scene the song describes, removing some of its earthy physicality and therefore distancing listeners from the very personal experience of listening in on a wistful lover's remembrance.

In the end, then, Return's pervasive feeling of intimacy will keep you coming back for more. The sensuality of AK's voice, the perfect pairing of rich and delicate synth tones with her breathy declarations, is impossible to resist.