Love is All - Nine Times That Same Song (2006)

Swedish Indie pop punk outfit Love is All put out one of my favorite songs of 2010 ("A Side in a Bed") on an otherwise rather disappointing album. Maybe I only found it disappointing because their debut album Nine Times That Same Song was so amazing. Nine Times That Same Song has a corybantic, youthful energy in a similar manner to Comet Gain. They have the propensity to bottle all hopes and desires of the young dreamer into a 3 minute pop song. Catchy, danceable, and sprightly, nearly every song on the album is a smash, making for an ultimately loveable album. The addition of Fredrik Eriksson's saxophone gives the record a unique sound and sets them apart from other indie pop groups. After 2 frenzied almost punk sounding songs, the album really kicks in with the third track, "Turn the Radio Off" which is the first of an assemblage of refulgent pop numbers that makes up the marrow of the record. On single "Make Out Fall Out Make Up" the adorable Josephine Olausson sings in a voice that is unmistakably her own, "Records and Clothes on Floor / Remind me of the night Before / A pounding pain in my head / I think I'll stay all day in bed" - recounting the feeling of an all night bender and one night stand - a feeling I can recently relate to. The song is about the fragility and transience of relationships and conveys the essence of the tempestuousness of youth culture in a poetic, yet facile manner. My favorite song on the record is the slow and dreamy "Felt Tip" which has a splendid arioso about it and builds up in force as the song progresses. There's also a demo version of it featured on the second disc, which I think is actually the better version, but they're both fantastic. The second disc also includes two covers, a passionate almost abrasive version of Yoko Ono's "Kiss Kiss Kiss" and an angular, boogie down take on Kim Fowley's "Motorboat," closing out the album with the same unbridled enthusiasm as it started with.

Rating: 9/10

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"Felt Tip" live in San Diego: