The Sounds "Dying to Say This to You" (New Line)
By Kimberly Rosenbauer
Wednesday. Apr 26, 11:24 AM
How long can you run on mindless fun alone?

Wow, the Swedes really have kitsch down pat. Between ABBA and The Sounds, they know what works and sells in American pop culture as well as we do. Or so they think.

The Sounds came about in the late ‘90s, though their neo-‘80s synth/retro/pop/rock style somehow works for today’s ears, too. All of their songs are in English (as is their website), and you get the vibe that a large portion of the band’s sense of coolness comes from the fact that they’re as American as they wanna be without actually being American, because that would be just too normal. You also get the vibe that they must be megalo-superstars over in their homeland. Over here, I caught on to the group with their first album, Living in America, in 2003, though numerous heated trials of introducing them to others soon after would prove fruitless.

Hmmm….

Two years later, The Sounds have released their follow-up, Dying to Say This to You. Having not listened to the group in quite some time, I can sort of see why my promotional ventures were so challenging. At times The Sounds are too much of even the little things that make them good. They're too ‘80s, somehow too energetic, lead female singer Maja Ivarsson is too blonde. In fact, it’s Blondie all over again… but in 2006. Yet still, I’m intrigued, moving to the beat, and getting my leg warmers out.

“Queen of Apology” is one of the standout tracks mainly because it’s so tuneful. The verses have their own catchy melody and the chorus has a different yet complimentary melody. This way we also get to hear different sets of background accompaniment, especially Jesper Anderberg’s mandatory synthesizer. Still, without Felix Rodriguez’s heavy guitar balancing old vs. new sounds, the group might have no modern day appeal.

“Tony the Beat” has dumb lyrics (“Oooh, this song is not for your lovers” which means… what?) but also a catchy keyboard line despite the song’s amazing win in the Gwen Stefani songwriting look-alike contest. In “Night After Night,” Maja tries a ballad: something different for the group. The piano line is beautiful, but unfortunately Maja’s voice is not. She sounds damaged and very breathy, likely from years of her usual loud singing style. Sung by another singer or perhaps another member of the band, this track could have stood out because it is strongly emotional and packed with building piano, vocal, and cymbal crescendos.

The rest of Dying to Say This to You is mildly to moderately repetitive and certainly have fewer catchy melodies than the group’s first album. But more importantly, I am completely hung up on Maja’s abominable pronunciation of “you” which always sounds like “jew.” Seriously.

The Sounds still have the potential for crowd appeal, however, in record sales and live performances due to their foreign/retro appeal. “How different!” “How cool!” The problem is that the group seems too aware of this appeal and relies on it too much so that growth as musicians hasn’t been evidenced. Although there are some strong and interesting moments, Dying to Say This to You plays too much like a sloppy photocopy of their debut… which pisses me off because I really like wearing their t-shirt and telling people, “You should listen to them: they’re Swedish.”
www.the-sounds.com
www.newlinerecords.com

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Kimberly Rosenbauer

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