LOVE IS ALL
Nine Times That Same Song
What’s Your Rupture?
· More like 14 times totally different tracks.
2006 has been quite a year for Sweden, with successful overseas crossovers by artists as diverse as Peter Bjorn and John, The Knife and the newly revived Cardigans. These bands are all interesting at the very least, but Love Is All deserve to sit squarely on the top of the heap, as their energetic, addictive debut Nine Times That Song is easily one of the past 11 months’ best.
Foaming and frothing right off the top, the five-piece launch into "Talk Talk Talk Talk" with a reckless female-led post-punk abandon not heard since the heydays of The Slits, Raincoats and Liliput. "One more time," is the repeated call to arms, as Josephine Olausson rambles underneath in her unintelligibly chirpy coo, and an unstoppably sax-y dance beat snakes, rattles and rolls. If you haven’t heard this yet, you need to.
Tracks like "Ageing Had Never Been His Friend" (which kicks off with the line "I keep the one I love in the freezer"), "Busy Doing Nothing," and closer "Trying Too Hard" (which they’re certainly not), find Love Is All continuing with the dance-floor-ready rockers. Surprisingly though they also have a softer side, as evidenced by the xylo-filled "Turn the Radio Off," its sister song "Turn the TV Off" and "Felt Tip," where they improve on a sound cultivated by their countrymen The Concretes.
This CD’s special edition also includes a four-song EP, containing the lo-fi, organ-driven "Lost Thrills," covers of songs by Yoko Ono and Kim Fowley, and an alternate demo version of "Felt Tip." Unlike most tacked-on album bonuses, these additions are actually all worth hearing as well, providing four more reasons to fall in love.
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