Between you and me, I didn’t wholly click with the breathlessly energetic debut from hyperactive Swedish sorts Love Is All, ‘Nine Times That Same Song’. It breezed by me without leaving much of a mark. And now I feel guilty of not giving it the chance it deserved.
See, listen without focus and all you get out of Love Is All is their boundless enthusiasm for cracking open a piñata full of good times in your vicinity; you miss the reasons why, instead opting out of the situation to turn attentions to more ‘serious’ propositions. Big Mistake, and ‘A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night’ makes this apparent from the offset, laying down hip-swinger after hip-swinger with the message that the Big Issues of the day can be forgotten for five in pursuit of lose-yrself escapist ebullience.
While the high-pitched histrionics of lead squealer Josephine Olausson telegraph more than a semblance of all things twee – backed up by some of her playfully geek-out lyricism – there’s a greater edge of acerbity to this collection than perhaps you might expect, flying close on more than one occasion to the freak-out avant-punk of Ponytail.
It can also play out like Camera Obscura coasting clouds on artificial-colour Smarties one song, the next switching tact to a big-band feel akin to Broken Social Scene. Essentially, it toys with textures within a limited field – never completely stretching itself, but possessing variety enough to keep the listener on their toes. It’s the sound of a band not quite repeating the formula of their debut, but at least running parallel to the original footprints in the sand.
Ska overtones are abundant via the presence of some shrill saxophone work from new member Ake Stromer, but there’s little skanking to be done to ‘A Hundred Things…’; rather, expect to shake your bones loose with your eyes rolled up into your skull and a beer spilling from your hand – it’s that sort of party album. Words like frolicking, dashing, delirious, dizzying – not mentioned prior to now, but all appropriate adjectives.
And if that sounds like your idea of a Bloody Good Time, don’t overlook ‘A Hundred Things…’ as I did its predecessor. Lesson, learned.
