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Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Wills

Merge

If you’re still waiting for a band to get the ’80s revival thing right, look no further. Shout Out Louds borrow liberally from The Cure throughout Our Ill Wills, and vocalist Adam Olenius is a dead-ringer for Robert Smith at points, but the band infuses each song with enough of their own identity that it never comes across as a blatant rip-off.

Standouts on the band’s sophomore release include the wistful “Your Parents’ Living Room,” and “South America,” which is such a tepid attempt at a come-on song that it ends up completely endearing — “I’m so careful, so very careful / Are you out tonight?” The true accomplishment of Shout Out Louds on this album is that each song is subtle and complex enough that you could sit with the album in a quiet room without a moment of boredom, but the arrangements are also uplifting enough to be the soundtrack for a night on the town. In other words, they’ve perfected The Cure’s formula — disguise your melancholy in some truly organic dance music.


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