Acid House Kings: Music Sounds Better With You
For the past two decades, Swedish indie pop group Acid House Kings have made jangly, guitar-centered indie pop. Their last album was 2005’s critically acclaimed Sing Along with Acid House Kings which was called by Pitchfork “achingly earnest.” Music Sounds Better With You shows that not much has changed over the last six years.
The band is back playing the same jaunty jangle pop that has been their hallmark. The band sound is mostly based around acoustic guitars but adds other esoteric instruments like strings, horns, and xylophone among others. Add that to their dueling male/female vocals and it is no wonder the band garners comparisons to such bands as Belle and Sebastian. Like the lead single for the album, “Would You Say Stop?” features female lead vocals. The track has a sound similar to old Motown girl groups; it reminds me of something like The Pipettes mixed with Camera Obscura.
The album’s opening track “Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?” features male lead vocals so it seems a little more Belle and Sebastian-ish. It’s reverbed lead guitar line over a wall-of-acoustic-guitar sound reminds me specifically of “Like Dylan In The Movies.”
But no matter what indie pop blogosphere darling Acid House Kings are drawing comparisons to, it is important to note that Acid House King predates them all. They began making music a full half decade before Belle and Sebastian and while their music may not be quite as good as Belle and Sebastian at their peak, it is certainly in the same ballpark. And in a year that is almost certain to not contain a new B&S record, Music Sounds Better With You is a more than worthy fill in.
Rating: 8.3/10
MP3: Acid House Kings “Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?”
Buy: iTunes or Amazon
Acid House Kings: Music Sounds Better With You
