**1/2 Whale

ALL DISCO DANCE MUST END IN BROKEN BONES

(Virgin)

Give a listen to a Swedish band who -- at last! -- don't always sound 110 percent British or American. The five musicians of Whale play themselves, mostly, as Euro as they wanna be -- which means vocals by Cia Soro that fly as softly as those of Abba's Anni-Frida and Agnetha, and accompaniments that draw from angst-laden, Europop sources: actressy rock ("Crying at Airports"), Enigma ("Roadkill"), Belgian techno ("Four Big Speakers"), Abba ("Go Where You're Feeling Free"), and even space-metal ("Losing Control"). The funky drums and the quickened new-jill rhythms of most of these songs add to the little-girlish effects Soro projects. Whale's rhythmic foibles and vocal flutters work magic, except for when strains of Brit-pop irony and American sarcasm lead them away from the open-ended dreaminess and live-it-up noisiness of their darkly joyous music.

-- Michael Freedberg