News

Track Review: Love Is All "White Cats" (live)

8:16 a.m. · July 24, 2007 · by Jeff Klingman

download;
From the dark corners of the internet comes this glimpse into a possible follow up to Love Is All's beloved Nine Times That Same Song. This fairly clear audio (taken from a Melbourne, Australia performance earlier in the year) differs from that album not in sound but in focus. Where Nine Times channeled the Swedes' boundless energy and knack for layered melody to make typical hipster activities like staying home watching videos or sulking through a DJ gig seem fun and exciting, "White Cats," might be the band's first try at a unfamiliar character sketch.
With the same unchecked enthusiasm she brings to all of her vocal performances, Josephine Olausson details the routine of an old widow. She's sealed in her house with multiple cats, as rumors of the circumstances of her husband's death float around the outside town. But this is no tragic ballad; it's all tight guitar riffs and sharp choruses. J.O. gives her crazy old cat lady unflappable self confidence and limitless verve. Though trumpeting the fact that she "only showers every second Friday" you get the feeling that the old bird might still turn a few heads if she cared to venture out. The tone may be thematically counterintuitive, but it's also refreshing. Flying in the face of established "Eleanor Rigby" stereotypes, it's possible that some of the lonely people, aren't so painfully lonely.

Previous · Next