For a small nation populated exclusively by tall, attractive blonde people with an impeccable sense of interior design, the Swedes have certainly produced a staggering variety of quality music in recent years. From punk to death metal to bedroom indie pop to neo-disco to minimalist electronica to psych folk, those stylish Swedes have got the musical landscape covered. Swedish sugar beet farmer Jakob Olaussen happily inhabits the psych folk corner of Sweden, where he patches together the sounds of multiple decades on Moonlight Farm. The aptly named album plods along with nocturnal charm sounding like an antique folk recording with some fresh modern zest snuck in.

The record starts out strong with “What Will Tomorrow Bring.” A violin intertwines with gently plucked acoustic guitar and sleigh bell percussion jingles in the background. Olausson’s rich vocals soon enter; he sounds like a weary Jens Lekman leading the assembled musicians with reserved confidence. With its simple arrangement, it sounds like it could be a dreamy late-night jam around the bonfire. “Welcome Traveler” continues this vibe with its haunting flute, pleasingly amateurish drums, and psychedelically tinged lead guitar. Elsewhere on the album, gently shrieking guitar highly reminiscent of Six Organs of Admittance gives the music a sinister undercurrent.

Moonlight Farm was recorded with lo-fi production that gives it a sense of timelessness. This aesthetic combines with the psychedelic flourishes to create a wistful and mystical feel. The combination of ancient-sounding lo-fi production with guitar and vocal effects gives the album its distinctive ambiance, but ultimately, the lo-fi production detracts. The problem is that all the instruments bleed together and lose their unique timbres. For example, on “The Wind Combs her Hair,” violin comes together with what sounds like chimes and a drone created by an instrument that I can’t quite pinpoint. This could be a great headphone listen if those chimes twinkled and the violin sang, but it all sounds muddy. The lo-fi aesthetic can work beautifully in similar folk contexts such as Devendra Banhart’s Nino Rojo or Iron & Wine’s The Creek Drank the Cradle, but it works for these artists because of their limited ambition: guitar, vocals, and sometimes one more instrument.

Still, Olausson’s Moonlight Farm is a gentle, and at times, hauntingly beautiful listen. He breathes life into simple arrangements and allows minimal use of studio effects to lead the music to an eerie and intriguing place.