Quirky doesn't cut much slack in American pop music -- we like our Britneys as close to straightforward caricature as possible. While this Swedish trio's tunes are unerringly catchy constructions of '60s girl group and '80s electro-pop, there's enough of a twist beneath the surface to indicate a less naive sensibility. The jaunty piano and drum machine tap of the opening "Boy with the Bright Eyes" hides a sly wink in Ingela Matsson's airy vocal as she sings, "I don't mind sitting silently and / Watching you for a while / Although I know it's quite annoying / I know you wish I'd / Think of something else to do / But it's actually my way to say / 'I love you'". The melancholy "July in London" dissects the end of a relationship with a wicked simplicity ("I didn't want to spend another holiday with you"); the accurately titled "Déjà Vu on Repeat" replays the minor key romanticism of vintage Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark. "Cindy Sherman" namechecks the unsettlingly provocative photographer. A certain obstinance courses under the pop sheen of the music, with "Adulthood for Beginners" using "ba ba ba"s to outshine the blunt anti-materialist declaration, "Money doesn't mean that much to me". "What Life's About" extolls the virtues of "hot apple pie" and "kisses in the dark" as opposed to "all the money in the world".

Piano takes the lead much of the time, with Matsson's multi-tracked vocals, chiming guitar and bass, and a variety of electronic keyboard textures filling out the upbeat bounce of the music. It's hard to discuss Swedish pop without mentioning the dreaded leading light of '70s Stockholm, Abba, some of whose sparkle rubs imaginatively against a British sense of (slightly twee) melodic lift. The titular cover likeness of Happiness is Toy Shaped -- an anorexic waif in a canary yellow pillbox -- looks like she stumbled in from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's "Island of Misfit Toys", and it's that hint of difference that the Shermans put to good use. Buffed to a shiny glow, these 35 minutes of Happiness charm.