Let’s take a minute to discuss Sweden—a musical muse of a country with a population roughly a quarter that of California and where the largest national export is sexy rock ‘n’ roll bands in tight skinny jeans. (I made that last part up. According to Wikipedia, the largest national export is tall, beautiful blondes and Muppet chefs. Ha! I kid… it’s actually something like timber and chemicals and hydropower, which are, obviously, much less interesting.)
Take, for example, the Scandinavian country’s pop contributions: ABBA, Ace of Base and The Cardigans. Or heavy metal: Opeth, Dark Tranquility and Amon Amarth. And especially fun indie rock with a Euro dance vibe tinged with pop sensibilities: The Sounds, The Hives, Sahara Hotnights and The (International) Noise Conspiracy.
Add to that last list Shout Out Louds, a spirited five-piece from Stockholm who opened their North American tour, supporting their recently released sophomore album, in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Los Angeles-based Nico Vega and fellow Swedes Johnossi opened the show, but due to pouring rain and a busy work schedule, I missed both. I walked in during that electricity-filled period before the main act takes the stage, as techies in all black hung a string of primary-colored geometric flags against the backdrop. When Shout Out Louds finally appeared, a good 15 minutes or so after everyone was anticipating, they opened with a tambourine-heavy rendition of “Time Left for Love” from their latest effort Our Ill Wills. In fact, the 11 songs that followed hailed mostly from Our Ill Wills. Singer Adam Olenius’s perfect English provided the powerful vocals on “Impossible,” “Suit Yourself” and “You are Dreaming,” while lovely keyboardist (and token female) Bebban Stenborg crooned softly during “Blue Headlights.” The band—which also features Ted Malmros on bass, Carl von Arbin on guitar and Eric Edman on drums—also played through a few of their debut album Howl Howl Gaff Gaff’s most popular tunes, including “The Comeback,” “100 Degrees” and “Oh, Sweetheart.” The earworming hit, “Tonight I Have to Leave It” was the last pre-encore song, and the crowd erupted into synchronized claps in pace with the band’s tambourines and maracas and something that looked suspiciously like a cowbell.
On stage, the five members did their best to bring the vibrant, dance-along songs alive—to mixed results. I’m guessing newcomers to the music found the band fun and lively and the songs rhythmic and catchy, with strong Moog harmonies sailing over the top of everything. But fans familiar with the simple Howl Howl Gaff Gaff and more complex Our Ill Wills may have been (just a little) disappointed. While the first album translated very well into live performance, the second sounds amazing as an album but falls a little flat without all the guest violinists, cellists and pianists that helped record. Stenborg does her best to fill in the parts on keyboard, but the sound is left a little less full than the remarkable record.
But you can’t blame a band for putting out a great record. Taken on face value alone, the show perfectly exemplified what I love about all the Swedish “it” bands right now: the attitude and the dance-ability factor. The final encore, an enthusiastic performance of “Very Loud” off of Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, had the audience on their feet bopping to Stenborg’s accordion and celebrating the fact that Sweden’s music has improved drastically since “Dancing Queen.”
Our Ill Wills is out now on Merge Records
For more on Shout Out Louds, click here: www.shoutoutlouds.com
