What happens when guitar-led songwriting meets programmed rhythms and layers of synthesisers? On Wither Without, out now via Now Listen, Akaba make that combination central to their second album, building a sound that reaches further into electronic music than their debut, The Rust Within.

The Stockholm trio bring together three distinct contributions. Åsa Carild supplies the vocals and lyrics, Tobias Ljungkvist plays guitar, and Mattias Olsson produces the record. All three share the music credits, giving the nine tracks a collaborative foundation beneath Carild’s personal writing.

The production is particularly important to the album’s character. Synthesised layers and programmed beats sit alongside the guitars rather than simply filling out the arrangements. This gives the songs a different sense of movement, with room for close vocal passages as well as busier, more unsettled sections.

“Go North” offers a clear introduction to the record’s concerns. Its focus on taking another route in life brings questions of departure and belonging into the foreground, without reducing the song to one fixed interpretation.

Across the tracklist, titles such as “Two Rights”, “Mistake” and “Grieve” sit within a wider sequence about a relationship reaching its end. The subject gives the album continuity, while the changing arrangements provide its musical variation.

For Akaba, the shift towards electronic production is more than a change in surface texture. On Wither Without, it becomes an essential part of how the songs communicate, placing the details of the arrangement alongside the writing itself.