8

Mediocre Twee Pop

'A Song Inside My Head, A Demon In My Bed' is a summery mix of indie pop with mellow tunes, bright guitar melodies and plenty of chirpy radio vibes and a hint of Fleetwood Mac. It's not surprising to learn that the band are Swedish as there are so many popular indie pop bands hailing from Scandinavia in recent years, although singer Frida's English accent is faultless. The band have already received plenty of success in their home country, and their music is quite charming enough to cause the same kind of stir here, even if it's just because it's "nice" music that will cause no offense.

'Release Me' is a gentle folk melody with rippling acoustic guitars and soft vocals that quiver in just the right delicate way; perhaps this is Oh Laura's real forté, while 'Black n'Blue's pretty guitar intro echoes Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game' far too much, although it does transform into a taut and attractive tune with the less inspiring chorus, "Beat me black and blue as long as you forgive me", which puts the fight against domestic violence back several decades.

The deep and forceful bassline of 'Fine Line' is the highlight of the busy, pop melody which recalls Fleetwood Mac in part with a sweet, driven melody, the effusive, 'Out Of Bounds' gets a little too much with its giddy lyrics, "Everything he touches turns to gold".

Swelling pop ballad 'Raining In New York' is a real tear jerker with soft violins shimmering away in the background, while the sorrowful humming on, 'The Thunderbird Hotel' also classes high in terms of evocative thrills.

Oh Laura are probably destined for success, but only because their music is universally inoffensive and also rather average with few real moments of excitement in this whole album. It's a calming affair that could be rather cruelly branded coffee table music as it has little in terms of real kicks and rests upon soft country-style soothing chords and lilting melodies; fine if you like that kind of thing but otherwise rather mediocre.