Love Is All

Love Is All's 2006 debut, Nine Times that Same Song, was punk in the sense that every song was simple, fast and catchy, but it wasn't as unpretentious as that title. The recording quality was poorer than it had to be, clearly a badge of honor that was supposed to prove the edginess of band whose core tasted unmistakably of sweetness—but after a few songs all the compression started to feel like a headache. A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night corrects that mistake, offering a collection of eleven hook-filled pop-punk songs shorn of the unnecessary noise, and with more variations in tone and tempo than we got on Nine Times.

Despite Josephine Olausson's presence as lead vocalist and the continuing prominence of saxophone, a cleaned-up Love Is All recall the anyone-can-relate-to-this charm of The Undertones more than the skronk and sass of X-Ray Specs. There isn’t one point on the album when it begins to wear thin. The moments that stick out are the intense sax workouts on "Sea Sick" and "19 Floors," the candied soul harmonica on "A More Uncertain Figure," and a recurring guitar-figure on the introspective "When Giants Fall" that poignantly breaks up A Hundred Things' considerable momentum, a deliciously somber morning-after that just won't go away. The album's greatest strength, though, is that Olausson and company have come up with a strong chorus to anchor every single song--just like a rock band should.

—Nathan Cunningham
11.26.08

Love Is All's second album, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night, beats the dreaded sophomore slump by doing two important things. First, they hew closely to the tinny and overloaded production of Nine Times That Same Song that worked so brilliantly, but introduce enough changes to keep the album from being a carbon copy. The production (by the band and Wyatt Cusick of Aislers Set) keeps the hissy clatter and the cavernous reverb, with Josephine Olausson's vocals distorted and fuzzy. The drums and bass are relatively free of noise though, which gives the record a punch and power the debut didn't have. A couple tracks, like the disco meets Wall of Sound "Last Choice" and the restrained ballad "More Uncertain Future," show a subtlety in sonic approach that's brand-new and welcome. For all its ecstatic charms, the clatter and clamor of Nine Times' sound and performances did wear you out a bit by the end of the record. Weary in a good, sweat-soaked way for sure, but still, it's nice to have variety. Second, they wrote songs that are just as good as the stellar batch they wrote for Nine Times. These are tracks that will propel you out of your seat and toward the nearest empty space suitable for dancing, songs that will hit you right in the gut with their unguarded emotion, and tunes that you will be singing along with the second time the chorus hits. The Clean-referencing "Wishing Well," the furiously rocking "New Beginnings," and the careening "Movie Romance" are all destined to be stuck in your head for days; the weary loneliness of "Last Choice" and aching melancholy of "When Giants Fall" will break your heart; and by the end of the record you'll be left wondering if the band can possibly top these two albums. Taken together, they position Love Is All as one of the best post-punk revivalist groups, and arguably the equal of their influences. Whether you stand behind that statement or not, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night is as good as indie rock gets in the late 2000s. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide