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Love is All... 9 times that same song
Genre: Pop / Indie / Punk
by Max MacBride
These skronky Swedes somehow got missed in the day-glo rush of 2006 but the lead singer is rightly compared to Karen O and the new album should prove a bit of a gem. Can you have a band that knowingly sings entirely about love and also about keeping your boyfriend in a freezer? Let us answer that with another question - wouldn't it be wrong not to?
Download 'Nine Times That Same Song' (UK)
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Download 'Nine Times That Same Song' (Canada)
Swede-punks Love is All want to talk to you about Love, and they're not hanging about. Armed with a batch of lo-fi art-pop gems, the Swedes take just 31 minutes on 2006's Nine Times That Same Song to make good on their sheer exuberance and ear for a winsome melody. And while lo-fi might occasionally be a byword for poor musicianship and mediocrity, Love is All turn this potential stumbling block into their greatest asset. Instruments are at times imperceptible; barely-there, fuzzed-up guitars compete with ephemeral saxophone (that's right - a saxophone) to be heard over frontwoman Josephine Olausson's irrepressible yelp and tin-pan drums. The effect is a sound that is far-away and yet impossibly huge all at once. Nothing outstays its welcome as Love is All bash you over the head with their engaging brew. Needless to say, being bashed over the head has never sounded better.
Formed from the remnants of Girlfriendo, the skronky Swedes are not a new band, having been together since 2004. They have to their name a string of critically acclaimed singles and one long-player. Nonetheless, perhaps distracted by the great day-glo rush of 2006, 'Nine Times…' didn't propel the band into the British public consciousness as it might have, despite high-profile support slots with Maxïmo Park and The Rakes. Never mind that though, because with a new album slated for release imminently, there's never been a better time to acquaint yourself with their fuzzy charms.
The title tells us, on the one hand, that if done right - and that's a big if - there need be no other theme for a great album than the big L word. On the other, it's an indication of an acceptance of their limitations. Defined by being 'just' another angular guitar group writing love songs, Love Is All put themselves ahead of the pack in their acknowledgement of this contrivance. Aware of the inevitable comparisons and pigeon-holing that blights many bands of their ilk, Love Is All forge ahead nonetheless, buoyed by the undeniable passion and soul of their music. Their self-awareness never comes across as put-on, though, and the unabashed way the band launch themselves into the dreamy morning-after-the-night-before jam of 'Make Out Fall Out Make Up' - all woozy keyboards and marching drums, with as epic a refrain as dancey art-punk allows - quickly sidelines such concerns.
Despite the inevitable Karen O comparisons, Olausson's vocals never dominate the mix as fully as the Yeah Yeah Yeah's singer's, and consequently just as many of the band's most affecting moments come courtesy of the always-intelligent arrangements. On 'Ageing Had Never Been His Friend', Olausson draws us in with the (alarming) confession that she keeps the one she loves 'in the freezer' so that he might stay 'fresh and young' but it's the instrumental breakdown which provides the song's final flourish. Possessed of a clutch of songs which win you over not with their subtlety or poise, but with their ragged, optimistic charm, Love Is All succeed on their own terms. Here's hoping they can repeat the trick on the forthcoming 'A Hundred Things That Keep Me Up At Night'.
Check out 'Love Is All' on Myspace
Download FREE MP3: "Make Out Fall Out Make Up" (remixed by the Bees)
About the author
Max MacBride is lost in music. He's caught in a trap. There's no turning back! A recent foreign-language business graduate, he aims to make the world a better place through a combination of financial astuteness and nu-skool flamenco. He would also like to be dressed as a small bear.
