Shout Out Louds - Optica (Merge, 2013)

Shout Out Louds
Optica
Merge
2013

Rating: 6.5 proper goodbyes out of 10

I'm at a loss as how to classify Shout Out Louds - there is no easily identifiable genre name for their music, despite there being plenty of bands that fit in this niche.  Adult-oriented, mature pop with a heavy gloss to it but still not sounding overly commercial or, well, cheeseball.  The Swedes seem particularly adept at this sound, the Shout Out Louds probably being the very best.  Or maybe Acid House Kings.  Let's just call it a tie.  Anyways, good record...loved their first two, not sure I even listened to their third; this one is a step below those first two, but I'm not talking about any huge drop off.  I don't really have anything more fruitful to say here - good, mature pop.

Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Wills (Merge, 2007)

Shout Out Louds

Our Ill Wills

Merge

2007

Rating: 7 diablo drinks out of 10

 

The debut album by the Shout Out Louds, “Howl Howl Gaff Gaff,” was a pop record through and through, but it has nothing on the shimmer and hooks contained in their sophomore follow-up “Our Ill Wills”.  Gone is any inkling of a rock edge, and in its place they’ve polished up all the rough bits and made a product so shiny you’ll need sunglasses to look at it.  I suppose that could be good or bad depending on the listener - were I forced to pick between their two releases, I prefer their first album; but this second record is so crammed full of catchy songs it would be really hard not to enjoy this newest outing by the band.  If you can imagine a combination of Swedish twee outfit Acid House Kings and British make-up aficionados The Cure, you’ll get a general idea of what the Shout Out Louds have to offer (the second comparison being especially apt, since the singer of the Shout Out Louds has an eerily similar voice to that of Robert Smith of the Cure).  A band certainly worth checking out for any fan of pop music, be it their first record or this newest one; you’ll most likely not be disappointed either way.