Review: Love Is All – A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night

Love Is All – “Sea Sick”
(from A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night)

Sometimes it doesn’t take long to realize you’ve found a good thing. A great pilot episode. The first bite of a delicious meal. The first time you went to the Post-Rockist website. Sometimes it just doesn’t take long. And such was definitely the case with Nine Times That Same Song, Love Is All’s 2006 singles collection that really announced them to the American market. The opener “Talk Talk Talk Talk” was a full-throated, howling announcement of their arrival that grabbed my attention in less than four beats with only voices, generously applied echo effect, and clicking drumsticks. In the time of literally one bar, I was impressed, intrigued, and a little bit terrified by how good this post-punk was. They wasted no time. On their newest album, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night, Love Is All challenges their listeners and demands patience. The opener, “New Beginning,” is not the same slap-in-the-face, capsizing upheaval as “Talk!” The Swedish bastards, just like a cheap, blonde, Nordic tease, get off on being withholding. They delay our gratification. Indeed, Love Is All keeps us waiting a whole five bars and six seconds before this jagged, art-pop treat is in full gear. It really didn’t take long to realize I was in for a good listen.

True to form, the Swedish quintet kicks off their newest effort with another confident attention grabber. In the matter of a few seconds, “New Beginning” introduces a tinny guitar line which is doubled by the bass, joined by drums, and pushed forward by a catchy sax line. Josephine Olausson joins in a few moments later with her recognizable frenzied vocals. The album’s energy rarely wanes and for the next 30-plus minutes, providing 11 tracks of new-wave inspired grit-pop, with choruses that have the odd ability to remain memorable and catchy despite the constant agitated saxophone squeals and rough guitars that accompany them. A truly engaging aspect of this record is the dynamic variation that persists throughout (and should no doubt be largely credited to the studio contrivance of producer Wyatt Cusick). The post-punk stomp never stops, and melodies are often repeated, but instrumental arrangements, tempo and mixing are in constant states of flux. At the end of each song, I am never left thinking that cleverness masks simplicity. Inevitably, I just think “I like those changes. That was pretty cool.”

Standout track “Sea Sick” is a great example of this dynamic variation, as well the odd mixture of post-punk, saxophone-blowin’ angst, and pure pop chorus. Of course, when I write “pure pop” it should be noted that it is of the Gary Glitter variety. The chorus of this song plays out like a faux stadium rock chant, but without straying too far from their punk roots. Over the foot-stomping kick drum and sparse, deliberate guitars, Love Is All deliver a sneering “I’m bored to death/ I’m bored as shit.” (This is a punk rock sneer and not a Glitter inappropriate leer). This mantra is repeated at different tempos, with varying levels of intensity throughout, and even this chant seems to work well with the otherwise spiky tone of the record.

There are a few misguided lyrical selections that rely on purely narrative story-telling. In particular, “A More Uncertain Future” explores lovers’ lament through dual narration. The band tries to escalate the emotional tension of a decayed relationship through a back and forth spat. But, the accompanying crescendo of instruments, (a flawed attempt to bring ballad into brute bombast) ends up making the woman sound shrill and the man sound emasculated… but isn’t that the case of any break-up involving an indie boy? However, previous fans of Love Is All will find A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night to be a similar collection of songs to Nine Times That Same Song. Exceptionally intense, noticeably Scandinavian post-punk, a ballad or two, and just enough thematic and tonal variation to keep us hooked. A great rock record.