James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
It’s probably a reasonably fair assumption to say that as far as Joe Bloggs is concerned, Sweden’s musical output consists of little more than two musical couples lucky enough to have the initials ABBA, and maybe copious amounts of death metal. If the Shout Out Louds have anything to do with it on the other hand, the winds of change might just be blowing in that department.
Now onto their third full length album, you could say that they’re beginning to know their way around the music business by now, as well as the European touring circuit for that matter. And it’s beginning to show with what is probably their tightest record to date, perhaps partly thanks to having producer Phil Ek (already with bands including Band of Horses and Fleet Foxes on his glittering resume) at the helm. This familiarity with folky-based outfits has decisively filtered down into the very essence of Work - gone are the orchestrations and pomp that came to define Our Ill Wills; the fat has been cut from the line up with a reverting to good ole guitar, bass and drums, with the occasional moog or accordion thrown in for good measure.
The outcome, I must say, is about as far from disappointing as you can get. On this nice shiny round plastic is just over forty minutes of easy-going, unassuming and chilled out perfection. It’s a week since I picked up this album, but I’m getting some clear signals round about now that this is going to be a slow burner. Simply put, these ten tracks sound… well, simple. That’s the charm of them. Ek and the band have managed to capture what I predict is the light they were first imagined in gazing across a grey Stockholm or glinting Sydney harbour (the album was in effect written via e-mail during a surprisingly productive hiatus), untouched by the bells and whistles of a modern pop studio. It would be with great difficulty that I could select any tracks that stand head and shoulders above another, so I reckon I’ll be lazy and simply not bother. You can decide that for yourself if Work sounds like it could be floating your esteemed boat sometime soon.
If so inclined, you could head over to the band’s website to cop a free MP3 of the lead single 'Walls', but in all honesty, I’d advise against it. It’s one of the worst songs to make the album (in my own humble opinion, of course), and doesn’t capture the overall spirit of the record at all. So by all means, if you fancy a cheeky free number to stick on your iPod and not listen to again for six months, shoutoutlouds.com is the place to be. If, on the other hand, you feel like grabbing a CD that’ll need some hefty competition to usurp it from the stereo once it’s in there, get yourself down to your local independent record store asap. I command it.
★★★★
Like this? Try Black Jam This Must Cease, The Decemberists The Hazards of Love, Travis 12 memories.
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