Send "Shout Out Louds " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 For these Stockholm-based indie vets, Work signals an embrace of music as a calling. Or, at least, a living. When advance mp3 "Walls" started showing up in bit.ly links late last year, its horns and jittery piano made Merge labelmates Spoon an easy first reference. A more revealing comparison, however, may be Lou Reed and John Cale's "Work", which reportedly gave Shout Out Louds' third album its title. From 1990 collaboration Songs for Drella, the Reed-Cale song is a manic, edgy portrayal of Andy Warhol's blue-collar Pittsburgh work ethic that sounds best on undistracted listens. Work, by contrast-- all innocuous midtempo thrum and vague yearning-- will be pleasant enough soundtrack bait, but it suffers from the bland risk-averseness that can sustain careers while smothering creativity.Still, having a job at all is cause for celebration these days, and Shout Out Louds have tightened their belts accordingly. Work scraps the Cars synths and trashy Lower East Side glamour of 2003 debut Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, along with the orchestral lushness of 2007 follow-up Our Ill Wills, both at least co-produced by Peter Bjorn & John's Björn Yttling. In his chair is Phil Ek, who worked wonders for Built to Spill, the Shins, Fleet Foxes, and Band of Horses. Ek makes Shout Out Louds sound like rock'n'roll pros, with every drum hit or tastefully atmospheric guitar lead in its right place, especially on a decent stereo. Dude obviously knows harmony, and his best call is bringing keyboardist Bebban Stenborg's tender backing vocals more to the front....full text |
| Airandseabattle |
| Shout Out Louds are an indie-pop band from Stockholm, Sweden. They have some boys and a girl in the band, and are affiliated with Peter, Bjorn & John (famous for the single most important moment in whistling history since Axl on “That’s Good“. The song builds with a piano line that is equal parts “All My Friends” and Peanuts theme, cutting out sporadically for vocals, which are unfortunately a bit too heavy on the reverb (think Arcade Fire covering Phoenix). The chorus would be fantastic but for the odd choice of guitar line, which is a bit too present in the mix and distracts from the rest of an otherwise driving chorus. The next track, “Fall Hard,” is the real standout on the record. The guitars, while still a bit overwhelming, do not ultimately disappoint. The song features really interesting chord progressions and technical but still memorable leads. The horns are smooth and pleasant throughout. And while the vocals here are slightly too Robert Smith for comfort, the chorus differentiates Shout Out Louds from their contemporaries and gives the song a welcome uniqueness that is mostly absent on the remainder of the album. After “Fall Hard” the subsequent songs are somewhat fly-over. These include “Play the Game” and “Walls,” which despite picking up the pace features a pinking piano line that reminds me of a similar, screeching Tegan and Sara song. “Moon” adds a nice violin in the mix that toes the Arcade Fire line (yet again) but is still nice enough....full text |
| Avclub |
| On 2007’s Our Ill Wills, the Swedish indie-rockers in Shout Out Louds did their best impression of a bargain-store Cure, wrapping deep woe in tinny effervescence. Three years later, on Work, Shout Out Louds have Built To Spill/Shins producer Phil Ek pumping up the sound, and while the third album is beefier, it still traffics in the mid-’80s version of British post-punk, where the sentiments remain dark even as the music turns bright and sparkly. Where Shout Out Louds used to sound a little stymied by the options of what kind of band to be (hence the retreat into the past), Work finds them owning their sound, and treating the nostalgic pangs they stir as a platform from which to express something sincere. The result is a record a little less giddy and more workmanlike than prior SOL albums, but when frontman Adam Olenius sings “This is who I ever was and always been” over the driving “1999,” or confesses “Whatever they say, we’re the ones building walls” in the soaring “Walls,” his newfound maturity and self-awareness is bracing. And when, in the promissory “Fall Hard,” Olenius insists “let it break… I’ll pick up the pieces,” he comes up with a romantic anthem as good as any of Shout Out Louds’ influences....full text |
Shout Out Louds lyrics
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