‘Long Gone Before Daylight’ opens softly with an acoustic guitar and Nina Persson’s expressive lyrics on the aptly named ‘Communication’. It’s a far cry from their breakthrough single ‘Lovefool’ and I swear, if I hadn’t been told it was The Cardigans, I’d never have guessed. Gone is the bubblegum pop and girlish, childish innocence of that earlier single; in its place are folksy guitars, strong melodies and a delicate country flavour.

So what changed? Basically, this is a mature album from a band that’s starting to grow up. This is the kind of album you write when you start realising that love, and life, don’t always turn out the way you hoped it would. When you’re old enough not to throw tantrums and expect success to be handed to you on a platter, when you’re wise enough to spend time on projects you care about, when you’re prepared to polish and tune and rework until every detail is perfect — that’s when you produce work like this.

Of course, having an ear for a tune also helps, and The Cardigans have that aplenty. The Swedish quintet — Bengt Lagerberg, Magnus Sveningsson, Lars-Olof Johansson, Peter Svensson, and Nina Persson — certainly know their way around their musical instruments. The chords flow together with an effortlessness that’s lovely to hear, in perfect counterpoint to Persson’s heartbreaking voice and aching lyrics.

My favourite song on the album was the final one, '03:45: No Sleep'. It’s haunting and gorgeous, the kind of music you hear once and then strive to keep in the forefront of your consciousness.