I have a confession to make. Having played this album a good few times, I thought I’d play it once each today on my commute to and from work. But I can’t. I just can’t do it. I played the whole damn thing on the way in (the first time I’d managed to listen to it all in one go) and I really can’t face playing Bravo! ever, ever again. This might just be the most infuriating album I’ve ever had.

Every song starts out well enough; Scandinavian vocals, indie pop with some interesting folky diversions, and some slick production. I like indie, admire good studio work and love Norway’s late, great Saint Thomas, Finland’s Mother Goose, even Swedish-language indie greats Bob Hund. But about a minute into every damn tune it all goes tits-up. It surely isn’t possible for a duo to make more puke-inducing choruses, whiny higher pitched voices (in bloody harmony), and in a more repetitive manner. Take the opener, “Shotgun Sister”. Starts nicely, good first verse, and then bang! God-awful high-pitched whiney chorus. Next is “Gold”. A bit ploddy, but alright, and with some interesting lyrics, then bang! Whiney high-pitched chorus with lots of extra, pointless instrumentation. Then it’s “Four Points”; starts out a bit REM, adds a bit of a reggae vibe and then bang! Stupid, punchy, annoying, dragging chorus. This becomes more and more irritating, until just when you think it can’t get any worse, we get ”We Are Happy Now”, which is, actually, a slightly different, yet no less irritating, version of “Shotgun Sister”. And it’s at that point it gets turned off.

Except for this morning. I guess it was tiredness (I’d stayed up to listen to my money be frittered away in the Melbourne Cup. Stupid Purple Moon), but I let it play on. And what did I find? An incredibly dour and tedious ballad, some sort of Euro disco pop piss-take (at least I think it was a piss-take) and a skiffle busking durge. I tell you, never again.
15%

Links
Friska Viljor [official site] [myspace]