Love Is All
(What's Your Rupture?)
Love is all that seems to irk Josephine Olausson-that, and ocean cruises. On the Swedish band's sophomore LP, the wonderfully anxious singer's hyper-cynicism runs amuck with songs mocking movie romance, for example, or detailing a complacent walk home from another lame party with her last choice-"Tonight you'll have to do just fine."
It's hilarious because it isn't happening to you! Even better, it's already happened and you can joyfully commiserate with Olausson while bouncing off the walls to Love Is All's spastic new-wave indie-pop jams. Her brutal honesty-and a seriously freaked-out saxophone-help save the group from drowning in a sea of fickle hipster hype.
Love Is All's 2006 debut came about quite casually, with band members frequently swapping instruments and basically just having a good time-outcome be damned. And while Nine Times That Same Song didn't exactly bowl over Sweden, overseas critics and crowds absolutely swooned. One year later the band returned to the studio with great expectations riding on the next record. So they got serious, sort of.
A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night is just as peppy and noisy as ever, but the clamor glows with a polished, mature sheen that almost betrays the group's seniority. Olausson and Co. have been around the block-save for newcomer Åke Strömer -and if their younger fan base stops pogo-ing long enough to hear the punchline they might just learn a thing or two about love-and fuck all.
Standout Tracks: "Sea Sick," "Give It Back" JAMIE GADETTE
