All you need is Love Is All
All records should be like 'Nine Times That Same Song' the debut offering from Sweden's 'Love Is All', not stylistically speaking of course as that'd be tedious. Imagine a world full of hand crafted records lovingly sprinkled with magic dust, records that make your heart skip and your feet drum tippety-tap in time with the beat, records that you can fall in love and simultaneously dance around your bedroom to, records that you adore and want your friends to love too. This band which emerged from the ashes of Girlfriendo in 2003 are the gateway into that world so ladies and gentlemen you need to BUY THIS RECORD NOW! Refusal to do so is an option of course but you'd be mad to even consider it for 'Nine Times That Same Song' is quite simply one of (if not) 'the' best debut albums released this year and Room Thirteen isn't renowned for making such bold claims without hard evidence
It ('Talk, Talk, Talk, Talk') starts off inauspiciously enough with a cacophony of noise, squealing saxophone meshing with distorted guitars and bass to create a crunchy, substantial whole. "Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk" garbles Josephine Olausson with gleeful abandon while her bandmates whirl around like a group of A.D.D. toddlers armed with a clutch of DFA records. If you think that all this sounds good, just you wait for the rest of the album as things get even better from here on in. Love Is All are certainly no one trick pony like most bands at this tender stage in their career, their canvas is spread far and wide taking in everything from right on dance-punk to C86 inspired jangle pop to fey, whimsical indie-pop and lo-fi.
The songs that daub their masterpiece are united by two factors however, one – they're universally excellent, two – you can really work up a sweat dancing to them. Take recent single 'Busy Doing Nothing' for example – a song so insistent that you can't help but be taken in by its boundless enthusiasm. Then there's 'Ageing Has Never Been His Friend' (my personal favourite), its clattering percussion and jagged guitars creating the framework for Olausson's piercing vox which comes across as one part Bjork to three parts Karen O . "I keep my love in the freezer" she trills mischievously and I raise a wry grin every time I hear those words leave her lips. Just when you think it's all about the dancefloor (and it is for the most part) along comes a song like 'Felt Tip' so achingly lovely and downright catchy that you'll be hard pushed to dislodge it from your mind.
The same could be said of the album's other tracks, all so deceptively simple yet brimming with passion and enthusiasm. Talk may be cheap but Love Is All deliver an accomplished debut album here that's all killer, no filler.