Punk singles on Stiff Records used to order their listeners to “play loud” and that’s exactly what you should do with Love Is All’s debut album. If you’ve seen the Gothenburg band’s amazing live show you’ll know why: their frantic punk-pop-soul would get Stephen Hawking out of his chair and onto the dancefloor. With shades of Essential Logic, Rip Rig and Panic and Kleenex in the skronky saxophone, angular dance beat and noisy vocals, it’s got a sound at odds and also way ahead of the current pack of 80s influenced bands. And for half the album it works so well you think you’ve found a contender for album of the year.

There’s a glorious cacophony of sound at play on ‘Make Out Fall Out Make Up’, with everyone joining in but leaving space for the amazing pop chorus. ‘Spinning & Scratching’ is another soulful work of genius, affecting the senses the more you turn upthe volume, and erupting into a ba-ba-ba chorus that, unusually for Swedish pop, is butch rather than twee. ‘Felt Tip’ has a sinuous bass line, around which the whole song gravitates, and a slow, sensuous feel while ‘Talk Talk Talk Talk’ has a punk-funk kick and a saxophone part that goes spiralling off like James Chance on bad drugs in some smoky New York hellhole. Half the album is definitely genius. Unfortunately the genius of other tracks has been obscured by cheap and tinny production and a feeling that the producer (Woodie Taylor of Comet Gain) was mimicking the sound of a 1981 post-punk basement recording. It’s too unbalanced, overloading the sax on ‘Turn The Radio Off’ or adding disco effects on ‘Used Goods’. That leaves a sense of disappointment that some of the tracks could be so much better – and the proof is in the live show.

This is still an essential record, from a great band, but my recommendation comes with some reservations – and when you have a band this good, you shouldn’t need them.

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