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Maybe I shouldn't be listening to this as the sun lowers on the last warm afternoon of the year. Clouds hover and obscure the rays from time to time as the soft sounds play. Six months ago this would have fitted well, floaty music and breathed vocals being more apt when the promise of warmth is due. How it will fare in colder months is anyone's guess. Being from Sweden they should be used to cold though, so they'll survive. The problem might be the frailty, in the sunshine it is easy to drift along with the soft vocals and restrained chugging and noodling. The title track is lovely, shimmering and glowing, as does Baby, I'm Not Sure If This Is Love and they surpass anything that St Etienne could muster, which is probably the closest comparable band. Maybe the problem I have is that I don't like that sort of thing over the long haul. Luckily, maybe, they up gear by track six, The Chance I Deserve kicks in like Beck and grooves away happily and I Give Up Too provides a (very) brief intermission of strangeness. Then it's back to afternoon lazing mode, fading in and out with your sleepy brain. Teenage Dreams tells of young love and fits the summery mood of holiday romance, but some of the songs do flounder in the soft air, Karen Song being one, coming too close to the Kings Of Convenience, but full of good intentions nonetheless. As We Set Ourseves Free wafts off into the horizon you're ready for something heavier, with more bite, something that will shake the afternoon slumbers away. Still, it's not a bad way to while away the time on a sunny afternoon, just as long as the storm clouds hold off.

Laurence Arnold
CWAS #13 - Autumn 2003

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