Sweden’s the Mary Onettes gain a firmer grasp upon their ‘80s-inspired pop/rock sound on 2009’s Islands while still bringing artists like the Cure, Echo & The Bunnyman and similar purveyors of post-punk gloom to mind. Singer Philip Ekström brings more personality to his melancholy lyric scenarios, combining Nordic stoicism with an appealing romantic vulnerability. Textured synthesizer lines and gleaming guitar riffs add cool colors to “Puzzles,” “Whatever Saves Me,” “Dare” and other midtempo mood-rockers. The band injects some uptempo urgency into the chiming “God Knows I Had Plans” and the sweetly melodic “Bricks,” though the atmosphere remains dark throughout. At times, the Mary Onettes achieve a soundtrack-like grandeur, as in the aching “Once I Was Pretty.” “Cry for Love” — a funereal-paced excursion into angst — may be the purest sampling of the band’s vision found here. Islands bodes well for the band’s future.