Maybe no one was even looking for it before, but on their fifth studio effort Copenhagen-based group WhoMadeWho find the missing link between Hot Chip and Miike Snow and master the genre of smart Pop (small "s" and upper-case "P").
Newcomers who have always heard they fit in with the "experimental pop" crowd might find this one "quirky" at best, because as the opening title track displays, the music here is designed to support sweet and earnest lyrics like "Souls, are made of love and energy/Like a raindrop, or a snowball" and with none of that "art song" prickliness.
Actually, "Another Day" rocks in a style so soft and neo-'70s that it could be be the Euroboat version of yacht rock, while "Hiding in Darkness" wears the "handclap" button off the drum machine and winds up sounding both very chic and very Chic.
Drifting, free numbers like "New Beginning" suggest the group members have seen more David Lynch films than average pop stars, while "Hiding in Darkness" is like a Pet Shop Boys tune with all the glam shaved off to avoid being mistaken for anything garish or disco.
If "experimental" infers anything approaching cluttered or cacophonous, then "tasteful" and "crafted" are the descriptors to use here.
Sweet, smooth, sincere, and smart, Dreams is an unexpected plush pillow from the group, so think of an after-party or afternoon record that could please the Daft Punk, Giorgio Moroder, Tensnake, and LCD Soundsystem crowds and you're in the vicinity of this humble roller.