Love is All are a punky Swedish pop band led by Josephine Olausson, who has a somewhat Bjork-like presence and warbling singing voice. Amazon tells me that people who buy their second album A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night also buy Los Campesinos!, so I guess I’m predictable in my affinity for Western European hyper/catchy punk-pop with clever lyrics.
“Wishing Well” is a total rip-off of the Clean’s great “Tally Ho,” in a good way (that manic Farfisa riff). See below for a video of them performing it live.
The other most memorable ones are “Sea Sick,” about a terrible cruise ship experience – would be a good soundtrack to David Foster Wallace’s “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” — and probably my favorite, “Last Choice.” In this one Olausson tells the story about eventually going home with “her last choice” at a party, someone she “vaguely knows”: “I’m not about to be left alone/ I’m sitting on the sofa on my own…/ He’s not my type and I’m not his but I’m sure he’s all right/ I’m not your kind and you’re not mine but for tonight you’ll have to do!” For a song about a meaningless one-night stand, it’s weirdly touching and “inappropriately upbeat,” and somehow reminds me of that Christmas novelty song by the Waitresses (“Christmas Wrapping”). (What is it that makes it seem Christmasy? Is that a glockenspiel?) There’s definitely a 1980s New Wave/post-punk feeling generally (saxophones, for example).
Ivan Kreilkamp 