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Shout Out Louds
Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
EMI
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Article
written by Hattie N
Sep 18, 2005.
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Sweden. Famous for such musical greats as Abba, The Hives (?) and…well exactly. So it’s no wonder that Shout Out Louds have chosen to ditch their national identity and make a distinctively British-sounding album. Or, to be more precise, a distinctively Britpop-sounding album. In fact, it’s practically packed full of sure fire mid-90s summer smashes, “Please Please Please” (very jolly, very bouncy and very annoying) and “100 degrees” (even more so but with added panpipe hook) being the most blatant. It’s all a little too faux-cheerful, and singer/guitarist Adam Olenius’ voice has too much brittleness and too little pathos to add anything significant.
But nestled beneath “Howl Howl Gaff Gaff”’s syrupy and sickly outer-crust are a few power-pop gems. Single and opener “The Comeback” is incredibly shiny-happy, but is so aware of this fact that it may well end up being the feel good hit of the year; “Very Loud” is a joyously soaring musical nugget carried by its marching drum background, and “A Track And A Train” is a blissful little masterpiece of epic soundscapes and cooing backing vocals from keyboardist Bebban Stenbourg.
“Howl Howl Gaff Gaff”, apart from being an abominable title (especially from such a great named band), simply does not work as a complete piece. Whilst Shout Out Louds’ enjoyment and love of making music is infectious, it leaves the listener with a rather nasty case of insanely over the top cheesyness virus. In a forty four minute chunk these songs become too tacky, too bubbly and too naff. But in isolated segments, they are like a particularly welcome sugar rush; a perfect and slightly guilt-inducing pick-me-up. Though not a classic debut, and unlikely to make any “Album of the Year” lists, there is potential here. It seems that the Scandinavian invasion may well continue apace.
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