NEW ALBUM REVIEW

....LOVE YOU
The Loves

The Loves are a Cardiff band who have recently relocated to London and who with this release (their 4th no less!) will be making waves when they hit the circuit in 2011. They are a band that manages to stay both contemporary as well as having one foot in the past in case they need to bring out something Technicolor (they often do). In my opinion they never go too far and become pastiche like or clichéd in their choices and arrangements. Similar to band's such as The Turtles or early Mothers Of Invention from that late 60's time period or even a band from today such as The Brian Jonestown Massacre or The Explorers Club they manage to sound like a group that has been transported to today from the 1960's rather than one who has simply bought Beatle wigs and gulped down fistful of LSD in search of inspiration (Yes I'm talking to you MGMT)

"...Love You" is their new 10 strong collection of songs to date that range from power-pop gems that reference everyone from "A Wizard, A True Star" era Todd Rundgren to scratchy Doo Wop 45's. Previous efforts from The Loves have managed to attract criticism because of their apparent reliance on novelty and joke pop although I think this is totally mis-guided and obtuse as they are clearly bringing something very new to the recently very bland and stagnant indie rock market. Tracks such as "King Kong Blues" (complete with false intro) drop hard from the start and are sure to be a highlight of their live set with its loose bass looping line and bluesy riff. While they have also managed to include tracks such as the first single "Bubblegum" that mixes The Hives with the off beat garage rock of a Nazz track while throwing a late curve ball as it morphs into a 50's era "Earth Angel" style torch song for the last 30 seconds.

Later tracks on the album such as "That Boy Is Mine" and "December Boy" have a wide appeal and make use of the female vocals in the groups arsenal and with more Raveonettes style to their sound show that The Loves can do "straight" as well as music with "eye-brows" to use a Zappa-ism.

The penultimate track of the album is "It's....The End Of The World" and features an audio cameo from ex-Velvet Underground member Doug Yule who play's Jesus, who's holy answer phone message says "hi this is Jesus i'm not here right now, I'm EVERYWHERE...please leave a message after the tone...BEEEP!" and is a slice of fried gold.

I look forward to seeing The Loves when they tour and promote this in early 2011 although I am slightly apprehensive to whether they are more of a studio band and worry that their live set can only fall short in a gig setting. I hope not.

http://www.myspace.com/lovetheloves