Visually striking, aurally affecting and emotionally stimulating, the Swedish songstress Karin Park has been gaining due praise for her industrial yet visceral sounds. Following last year’s Tiger Dreams EP and a stint supporting Azari & III and SBTRKT in Europe, her album 'Highwire Poetry' is due to come out on the 28th May.

Dazed Digital: Tell us about your upcoming album Highwire Poetry?
Karin Park: It's a very personal album with influences from all sorts of electronic music. Analogue sounds from the old days and some very new and fresh sounds. Producer Barry Barnett taught me some nice moves production wise and to me this record sounds like a free spirit.

DD: How else would you describe the sound?
Karin Park: Electronic, industrial electro-pop with that melancholic vibe that living in Scandinavia gives you as a writer I guess.

DD: What does the title mean and how did it come about?
Karin Park: Imagine the feeling when you're about to get out on a high wire and you are SO nervous because you know you can fall down. But, you know you can actually make it to the other side and that's why you are going for it. A lot of the time life is about that, so I thought that would fit as a title. And it sounds beautiful when you say it.

DD: Where do you draw inspiration from?
Karin Park: People, images and anything that turns me on, frustrates me or disappoints me.

DD: Would you cite any musicians or artists that have influenced or inspired you?
Karin Park: Fad Gadget, Einstûrzende Neubauten, and The Cure have made music I am hugely influenced by. I also love Captain Beefheart, Diamanda Galas and Scott Walker.

DD: Your live shows are cited as a spectacle in themselves - how do you feel live performance serves to compliment music?
Karin Park: When I go to a gig I feel I get to know the artists more and it makes you listen to the music in a more personal way. I always want to know all about the artists that I like and I hope people feel a stronger connection to the music when they go to my gigs.

DD: Your music and lyrics are often described as ‘dark’ – what is your response to or thoughts on that?
Karin Park: Well, happiness and satisfaction doesn't get my juices flowing creatively so most of the time I write when I am troubled with something. I write when things have to come out. I don't view them as dark though; they are just realistic to me.