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July 20, 2007
Love Is All That Has Eluded Me
photo by Devon Banks
As much as we strive to earn your trust by being inhumanly up on all things terrific, occasionally a bit of news about one of our collective favorite bands gets stuck in the cushions of the zeitgeist, to be discovered months later. Such is the case with the knowledge that Sweden's finest riot-pop purveyors, Love Is All, had tacked a second A-Side on to the March single release of Nine Times That Same Song cut, "Ageing Had Never Been His Friend." The A-Side in question (which in our own defense, was ignored by everybody) turns out to be a swell pogo cover of a wispy indie cult tune.
Love is All - "Nothing to be Done" (Pastels cover)
This song was originally recorded by Scots mopers the Pastels, and released in 1989 by Homestead Records. The original was the sort of sad and pretty indie duet that will always attract at least a minor following. I'll admit that it's good, but in my eyes (ears?) the Love Is All cover is solidly better. LIA just give their songs so much more restless energy than most of their indie-pop peers and predecessors, that once you've heard their take on the genre, moping through a love struck ditty no longer seems adequate. Warm brass replaces the original's guitar noodles, and head girl Josephine Olausson forcefully makes the countermelody her own. The result sounds richer, still a bit romantically sentimental, but upbeat and life affirming as well.
Love is All - "White Cats" (Live in Melbourne)
Perhaps even better is this generally high quality recording of the band playing a new song on tour in Australia earlier this year. In "White Cats," Josephine inhabits the apparently universal archetype of the crazy old cat lady who lives down the street. "Rumor has it that I killed my man," she sings enthusiastically, "that I whacked him in the head with a pan." Though it's a bum rap, her usual sunny vigour makes the crazed widow character completely unbelievable. She's likable right up to her climactic shouts of "You mind your business, I'll mind mine!" But the fact that it's such a weirdly outgoing defense of agoraphobia, is where quite a bit of the charm lies. To further confirm that J.O. will never be getting gritty character actor work, stay for the post song banter where she sounds like a fuzzy bunny with a head cold.
// Love is All - MySpace
Posted by Jeff Klingman at July 20, 2007 02:30 PM
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Comments
"Is" is a verb. It's not an article or a preposition. Capitalize it. Always.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 05:27 PM
In titles, or in names of bands, I mean. Not always always.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 20, 2007 05:28 PM
Happy?
Posted by: Jeff Klingman at July 20, 2007 05:36 PM
And it always gets an umlaut. Well, what are you lookin' at? Umlaut!!!!
Posted by: david at July 20, 2007 07:51 PM
