He may be the face of a-ha, but his voice is all Morten Harket contributed to the group's signature hits. Without the songwriting talents of guitarist Paul Waktaar-Savoy and keyboard player Magne Furuholmen, the singer's in trouble. Nothing on his second solo outing 'Letter From Egypt' evokes the thrill of 'Take On Me', the timeless quality of 'The Sun Always Shines On TV' or the refinement of more recent work like 'Summer Moved On'.

Instead he and chief collaborator Ole Svere Olsen resort to more of their glacial (read slow, stark, icy) tunes that padded out the last three a-ha albums. It's telling that the best track was written by outsiders, although lacklustre production prevents 'Movies' from being a latter-day 'Stay On These Roads'. A similar fate befalls Furuholmen's contribution — his delicate 'We'll Never Speak Again' is encumbered by a drum machine set to "boring" and a cello courtesy of some keyboard effect.

Before it grows repetitive at least 'Darkspace' captures a glimmer of that dark Scandinavian beauty — a hint of sorrow underlying even the prettiest pop melody. And the electric 'Send Me An Angel', which at least shows signs of life, should have been saved for the next a-ha outing.

But 'With You - With Me' is as insubstantial as mist on a Norwegian fjord, the forlorn acoustic title track is mired by an endlessly repeated refrain of "Everyone's going to be alright, Everybody's going to be OK", and — despite some soulful singing and lavish strings — the pretty 'Anyone' simply drifts off into nothingness.

"There are many ways to die," Harket offers at one point. This is one of them.