|
 |
Shout Out Louds
Work
By Brian Baker
After the dramatic swell of Shout Out Louds’ acclaimed 2007 sophomore album, Our Ill Wills, and two grueling years of subsequent touring, the Stockholm quintet decided to take some much needed time off. Before it literally put global distance between each other for an extended period of time, it charged primary songwriter Adam Olenius with a fairly straightforward task; keep the new songs simple. The subtle trick in that goal is to retain the grandeur and power of SOL’s first two albums in a manner that streamlines and strips back both the process and the end result. Against long odds, Olenius and his SOL compatriots have achieved that very thing with their deceptively complex third album, Work.
On Work, Shout Out Louds bristle with classic pop energy, keeping their arrangements Spartan but ramping up the passion by riding the potent tension between what seems to be happening and what is actually being played. On “1999,” SOL seems to be channeling Brian Eno’s early solo efforts and John Cale’s baroque pop leanings and “Show Me Something New” careens along like Robert Smith in the throes of Friday pop love, while “Fall Hard” sounds like a page from Gary Clark’s pop songwriting textbook and “Candle Burned Out” quivers with the shimmery dynamics of the Shins. Phil Ek’s production here merely highlights the flecks of James Mercer that already exist in SOL’s gorgeous pop framework, although the same could easily be said regarding any sonic reference point on Work. Shout Out Louds set a goal of passionate simplicity for their new album and achieved a magnificent end by tapping into a melodic classicism that touches on ’60s pop and ’70s new wave while injecting it with a heart needle full of adrenalized “now.” As a result, any familiar associations that drift through Work are quickly absorbed into Shout Out Louds’ personal concept of pop timelessness.
.
|
