Heidi Kilpelainen typifies everything that the electroclash genre has stood for over the past 4-5 years. On this, her debut album, Kilpelainen revels in electro melodies with an acerbic punk attitude, walking hand in hand with her positively kitsche new wave imagery.

What I like about HK 119, however, is that the music rises above the usual cliched, backwards-looking camp of eighties synthpop to deliver thoughtful electropop tinged with a nonconformist energy and a wry sense of humour.

Throughout a fairly short album (38 minutes), Kilpelainen motors through 17 tracks of raw, vibrant social commentaries, bathed in sparkling melodies to a background of gritty, electric synths and unconventional samples. The inescapable influence of The Human League and Kraftwerk frequently hove into view, but Kilpelainen does not plaigarise – the songs, the attitude, the ‘sound’ is very much her own. Not one to waste precious time, only one track on HK 119 surpasses the three-minute mark; Kilpelainen simply makes her statement and swiftly moves on to the next track.

Highlights include Friend For Dinner, where a funky bassline saunters beneath a rich brew of electronics, with Kilpelainen’s edgy vocal in unrelenting control, whilst Censor Me more than matches the smooth, balledic pop fragrance of Goldfrapp. Meanwhile, the sumptuous melodies of Uber Machine Interval simply sparkle over its tribal beats and throbbing analogue moog sounds, whilst, Malfunction and Pick Me Up effortlessly take on the likes of Adult., Fischerspooner or Client with favourable results.

Quirky and imaginative, HK 119 bites your neck with vampire-like voracity and holds on tight right up until the burlesque romanticism of Taysikuu’s abrupt close. Until I can remember another Finnish artist, Kilpelainen is already the most exciting electronic act to come out of her homeland – a fine debut.