Love Is All
Nine Times The Same Song
What's Your Rupture?
By Jose Fritz
It’s the damn Swedes again. Why is it that once a genre takes hold in Sweden, they utterly dominate it? It’s the last vestige of their Viking heritage; when they see a fertile land across the pond, they climb into their dragon-faced ships and then conquer it. They are a creed without hesitation. They charge across the plain sweating, unwashed braids flipping in the wind, holding hand made axes and knives tightly in their marginally-educated but very driven fingers.
Love Is All had a previous incarnation as Girlfrendo. It was funky in that ‘70s detective film way, but simultaneously synthy in that ‘80s please make it stop kind of way. They were not notable, not good and we all left them in the cut-out bin hoping they’d go away, but they didn’t. Instead they put out a series of four 7-inches that were more punk than anything they’d done before (or since) and silk-screened the packaging by hand in that old fashioned way that hippies used to do in the kitchen.
John Peel got a hold of a copy. It’s little known, but under the same deal with the devil that granted him tastemaker status, John Peel could also reach through space and time via the ether to find new music. However he did have to use a traditional land line to call the band to invite them to London to record a session. They accepted because they’re not retards.
That session is this record: Nine Times That Same Song. The new songs are thick and extremely tangible, combining elements of old punk, new wave, no wave, third wave, nouveau wave, third wave and by default, indie pop. You really can hear their mutual love of Brian Eno, The Kinks, the Tubes and Jonathan Richman.
In my own ineffable way I’m reminded of the step Max Roach took with the album Money Jungle. He didn’t do it alone, but he did do it expecting failure. They’re both taunting records, rich with new ideas but low expectations; rich, surprising and fulfilling.
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