Speak Softly, Carry Retro Shtick

Mar 3, 2010 CD Reviews
Posted by tdouglas woomble

Shout Out Louds
Work
Merge Records. 10 Tracks.
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Musically speaking at least, the 1980s was a benevolent decade. Many of today’s hit-makers owe their very existence to pioneers from the golden age of new wave and synth pop. Madonna bequeathed her style-over-substance act unto Lady Gaga. Duran Duran gave us the Killers. And Chris Martin borrowed A-ha’s falsetto warbles while the Norwegian trio was off fjord-hopping and poof! Coldplay was born.

Swedish quintet Shout Out Louds makes a third withdrawal from the ‘80s bank for its new album Work, with slightly diminished returns. The band’s two previous efforts cribbed from the Cars, New Order and the Cure—2007’s Our Ill Wills kicks off with a close-enough-for-litigation facsimile of the latter’s “In Between Days,” re-titled “Tonight I Have To Leave It. ” The latest release opts for the polished sound of less iconic artists of the era, say, China Crisis or Split Enz. And the album cover? A cheeky riff on Ultravox’s Vienna.

Shout Out Louds have never been the edgiest band around, but here whatever quirks they might have displayed in the past have been smoothed to the point of anonymity. Under the influence of producer Phil Ek, who helped give The Shins a classic pop patina, the group has created a work that is long on hooks but short on personality. Lead singer Adam Olenius’ previously croaky vocals — think Robert Smith in the throes of puberty—have been sanded and layered. Tempos sit squarely in the midrange between pokey and perky. Guitar and keyboard melodies move things along without exertion, and none of the 10 tunes here would challenge even the most timid listener.

Still, every one of them is undeniably catchy; there’s not a clunker in the bunch. And if you are of a certain age—i.e. if you remember swooning over the first Haircut One Hundred single—Work will make you giddy with déjà-joy. It’s difficult to pick out highlights because the songs are of a wrinkle-free piece, but “Four By Four” has a certain campfire sing-along charm and “Paper Moon” builds to a lovely, swirling climax. Here and there Olenius, the group’s lyricist, shows he hasn’t lost the knack for detailed image-conjuring. Sample verse from the opener, “1999”: “Your band came to town, I was too young to know/You were younger than I am now in 1983/You came home with a black eye.”

But about that name, Shout Out Louds. As the group’s sound grows more muted with each release, it’s clear that the moniker is becoming awkwardly ironic. Time for something a little less bold, perhaps? Too bad Modest Mouse is already taken.

(For another example of wanton ’80 homage, check out Empire of the Sun’s latest album, reviewed here.)