This week, the debut album from Swedish weirdos (Sweirdos?) Niki & the Dove, Instinct, was released digitally in the United States. Swirling in influences that seem to range from the Knife to superstitions to a pile of twigs, Instinct is a creepy, pulsating electronic beast that manages ultimately to sound just left of standard pop. Confounding, fantastical lyrics abound, but my favorite moments come in the more straightforward offerings whose subtle weirdness manages to creep under skin with a stealth tenacity.

"Last Night" is a ballad about getting married in a taxi, in which singer Malin Dahlström warns, "I didn't want you to wake the lion that we hushed to sleep / But it's so tender that I don't care where it's leading me." OK, so maybe Niki & the Dove's straightforward is not your average straightforward, but this their version of a love song. Melodically, it vaguely reminds me of the Keyshia Cole/Diddy hit of the same name from a few years back. I wonder if that's intentional.

Also, here's a heads-up that Niki & the Dove will be performing today on YouTube Presents at 4 pm ET. An interview hosted by yours truly will follow. I think I'll ask them about their Keyshia Cole fandom.