“Tonight I Have to Leave It“
from the album Our Ill Wills
2007
iTunes
Swedish outfit Shout Out Louds’ sophomore album is much less rollicking than its debut, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff. On Our Ill Wills, the band pays homage to such influences as the Cure and the Smiths — even naming a track “Meat is Murder,” an allusion to the Smiths’ album and song with the same name.
The record plays like a letter to a former love, perhaps left in the dust of a tour bus as the band went to conquer the indie-music scene across the pond. Songs such as “You Are Dreaming” and “South America” bemoan the difficulties of being on the road and away from home and describe a band trying to reconcile those parallel lives.
The album’s only misstep is “Hard Rain,” which lacks focus and drags on about two minutes longer than it should. While Our Ill Wills also suffers from poor sequencing, it exemplifies a band exploring its talents with great returns and is a sturdy follow-up to Shout Out Louds’ debut.