The Sounds
Album: Dying to say this to you
Out: 21/03/07
Ooh, the 80s! Since ‘opinion’ decided that it was a good decade for music, we have been inundated by the posturing electronics that define whatever notion of late 80s nostalgia is currently cool (which, Brandon Flowers, is never Bruce Springsteen). However, this range seems insufficient for Sweden’s The Sounds, who somehow manage to squeeze influences from three decades into Dying to Say This to You.
Opener ‘Song with a Mission’ takes 90s girl-bands Republica and Echobelly and devours them with a massive pop chorus seemingly designed to make you strut. Our own decade gets a nod on ‘Tony the Beat’ where Strokes-influenced guitar and drums twist and turn into a cacophony of blippy, synthy 80s pop sounds. Elsewhere, ‘Painted By Numbers’ merges all of these influences together and creates something both nostalgic and super-modern.
That said, the album does trail off towards the end, where the male vocals of ‘Hurt You’ seem weak in comparison to the pure energy of female lead singer Maja Ivarsson’s efforts. The Sounds, then, would appear to be a singles band, but this is no insult when the potential singles from this album are so promising. Even, I would venture, a tad brilliant.
