After the sparkling synth pop promise of their early singles and the celestial triumph of their debut album, Voyage, the Sound of Arrows' second album takes all of that goodwill and chucks it out the window.

Stay Free is by the Swedish duo's own admission an earthbound record, something deliberately much more grounded than Voyage, which was so bright and weightless that it sometimes sounded like it was being beamed down from the stars.

Now, thanks to the leaden melodies, basic-sounding synths, machine-driven vocals, and empty lyrics, they sound less like the Pet Shop Boys floating through space in a capsule with a 50/50 oxygen/helium atmosphere and more like a couple guys chasing after pop success and missing the mark again and again.

The lyrics focus on empowerment clichés and vagaries about relationships, sung in a voice that sounds like Justin Bieber stripped of idiosyncrasies, while the formulaic beats and gauzy keyboards fill in the background with recycled sounds.

Half the album sounds like a YouTube wannabe doing covers of current pop hits; half of it sounds like '90s dance-pop hacks the Beloved at best, Ace of Base at worst.

To go from magical realist gems like "Magic" and "Into the Clouds" on the first album to tritely bland songs like the anodyne "Beautiful World" and the overblown "The Greatest" is a huge drop in quality.

It's almost hard to believe it's the same band, though a close listen to the lyrics on both albums does reveal that they have always dealt in platitudes.

The difference is that on Voyage they were surrounded by a warm, enveloping glow, and here they are mostly pushed out to the front of the flat mix.

Stay Free is a huge disappointment in almost any regard, and in case that's not enough, they figured out a way to waste contributions by Annie and Niki and the Dove.

Neither of them can transcend the overpowering facelessness of the album, though Niki's Malin Dahlström almost manages to pull "In the Shade of Your Love" out of the doldrums with her vocal prowess.

The song and the rest of the album are almost painfully tethered to the earth without any of the grace and beauty of their debut.

They succeeded all too well in their aim of keeping their heads out of the stars; the question after hearing the album is "Why?".