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Another textured delight emerges from Adam Selzer's Type Foundry Studios in Portland Oregon. Essentially the work of singer-songwriter Greg Olin, with contributions from Selzer and fellow Norfolk and Western acolyte Rachel Blumberg, and a handful of others, 'Love Love Love' is an imaginatively constructed set of mid-fi, mostly mid-paced songs delivered in Olin's breathy, lazy drawl which occasionally invites comparison to Joe Pernice (albeit through a cheap-mic a la Sparklehorse).



Opener the (209) is lilting indie in the mode of Track Star, or recent Evan Dando; the following Modern Love Is A Killer a fuzzed-up, Grandaddy/Lennon hybrid; I Am So Tired, a downcast V.U. dirge with tongue-in-cheek lyrics ("I'm so tired I can feel the marrow in my bones / I'm so tired I'm dreaming of making love in motor-homes.") The remaining dozen tracks show similar disparity, whilst maintaining a sonic semblance that makes the album very much of a piece. Both Curse A Thing and Calm Me Down put a languorous piano behind a seriously chilled vocal and would make Hayden sound animated, whilst O'Connor Pass and the untitled track fourteen display a keen pop sensibility that prevails through much of 'Love Love Love'.



It may not be all you need, but The Graves' debut will serve you well.

Matt Dornan
March-April 2003

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