Review Summary: Workmanlike indie pop from a band capable of so much more.
Whether it’s their effervescent boy-girl harmonies, lead singer Adam Olenius’ Robert Smith via Sweden accent, or merely their completely innocent, inoffensive image, Stockholm five-piece Shout Out Louds have never really been able to differentiate themselves from the wave of indie-pop bands seemingly pouring out of the Great White North since ABBA. Even after their second album, 2007’s wonderfully multicolored
Our Ill Wills, the band was continually relegated to
One Tree Hill-background status, while arguably less-talented bands like Peter Bjorn & John hit the mainstream with some nifty whistling.
Work, then, seems like a middle finger to the rest of the industry that has largely ignored them, its laughably serious cover and simplistic title a brazen sign to the world that they’re here to work, by God! It’s stripped down and remarkably focused compared to their previous two efforts, and producer Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, the Shins) brings out the indie big guns. It’s unfortunate, however, that it’s this single-minded directive that turns
Work into a bit of a regression of their sound.
Our Ill Wills was a wildly sprawling affair, one that dabbled in South American bossa nova as often as it cribbed from ‘80s new wave, but it was the band’s undeniable heart and Olenius’ often emotionally bare performances that made it one of the finest examples of Northern indie pop. Here, nostalgic opener “1999” sets things up perfectly for a dynamite sequel, with its verses mourning “how can I forget the nights we killed / every summer night / you know the sun never sets around here / that is what we wake for up here” while Bebban Stenborg’s lovely soprano colors in the borders and a yearning guitar line completes the sepia-toned picture. But follow-up “Fall Hard” is an immediate letdown, rote Cure-ish synth-rock with an admittedly money chorus that still lacks that certain emotional punch, that red-blooded fire that makes “1999” hit so hard and what made their last record so affecting. It’s a problem that continues in first single “Walls,” where the muted climax makes the slow buildup that preceded it completely lifeless. Frankly disturbing, actually, is that more than a few of the songs here take the titular noun to heart a bit too much, mid tempo slush like “Four by Four” or the aimless atmospherics of “Candle Burned Out” missing that indefinable passion; missing any sort of authentic feeling, really.
It’s these half-hearted attempts that make the successes on
Work so striking when they do hit the mark. Songs like “Play The Game” and the hypnotic “Moon” are veritable Shout Out Louds classics, taking the slow burn idiom that they mastered on
Our Ill Wills and elevating them, whether it be with ethereal guitar melodies, the haunting addition of strings, or Olenius’ on-the-verge-of-a-breakdown intimacy. Just as effective is the rave-up of “Show Me Something New,” which harkens back to their high-octane debut, or the riveting, anthemic “Throwing Stones,” where the band actually sounds happy to be living the dream and not so damn heartbroken. It’s these kinds of songs that make it seem near criminal that Shout Out Louds were never able to achieve the sort of exposure of a PB & J or even the Hives, and matches up the best aspects of the group’s sound: namely, swooning, sugary melodies via synths and guitar and Olenius’ distinctive, confidential vocal style.
And then the album closes out with a shimmering mess like “Too Late, Too Slow,” a jumble of fuzz and whispery vocals that never really rises above its self-created muddle, and you wonder what happened to the balls-out band of the past.
Work is not a bad album by any measure, and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable experience for any fans of the genre. But as the third album for a band that seemed to be destined to make the jump from merely great to one of the landmark acts, it’s a definite step back, one that seems content to work within the boundaries of its influences and journey out only for the occasional track. In other words, it too often sounds like just work for the sake of
Work.
