love is all - two thousand & ten injuries

It’s no secret that Swedes do it better. While I may not know too much of the traditional Swedish culture, their music scene is insanely ahead of the indie curve, leading the international pop craze left and right. (See: The Knife. Annie. Peter Bjorn and John. Shout Out Louds. Fever Ray. Robyn. Etc. So really, there's no surprise that I'm really digging on the new Love is All record, Two Thousand & Ten Injuries, which find's its Polyvinyl Records debut release on March 23rd.


This is the third of this Swedish eclectic indie pop outfit's discography, and while I was an above average fan of '06's Nine Times that Same Song and'08's A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night, I wasn't expecting anything different from the new album. If you've followed this troupe, you'll get what I'm saying: they deliver consistent, upbeat and scattered pop tracks - delivered atop fast guitar work, traditional percussion, crazed out synth and jazzy sax breakdowns, led by the childlike, shouting and sometimes difficult to comprehend lyrical styles of Josephine Olausson. While their content is all enjoyable, it doesn't tend to stick out apart from their past releases. It's a successful formula, but once you've got one album, you've basically got them all. Or so I thought.

There's something about Two Thousand & Ten Injuries, however, that disproves this theory. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the tracks are more tightly packaged and there seems to be a sense that as the album progresses, the band is getting closer to some musical destination on an overdue adventurous road trip.

The album kicks off with the delectably catchy, "Bigger and Bolder," proving this album to be exactly that with its melodic, fast paced and dizzy tempo. Additional highlights on this collection include the self-depreciative "Early Warnings," which Olausson shares the typical bad day routine we've all encountered at one time or another ("Straight out of bed, I smash my head on the book shelf,") topped with sax and melodies that almost make you want to have a bad day if it can sound this fun. The single "Kungen" is an addicting number clocking in just under three minutes, packed full of "bah-bah-bah-bah-bah's," driven by percussion, backed up by a steady bass line and topped with the signature chaotic sax/thrashtastic guitar breakdown. Perhaps the most standout track of the album is the closing number, "Take Your Time." a step away from the traditional Love is All pop craze, this song slows it down with a dusty marimba/key musical bed, with a fuzzed out, yet delicate, Olausson sadly and distortedly speak-singing minimal lyrics. The track is a synth pop lullaby, perfectly concluding an otherwise energetic, unforgettable third effort from this quintet.

Love is All proves their eclectic pop formula to once again be successful, while still managing to step it up a notch, with a mere twelve tracks clocking in under 35 minutes--I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.