Shout Out Louds: Our Ill Wills

"Tonight I Have To Leave It," the opening song on Shout Out Louds' sophomore LP Our Ill Wills, sounds similar to The Cure's "In Between Days," only with strings, piano, and bells taking the place of synthesizers. Owing an obvious debt to mid-'80s Britpop—the Swede-pop outfit even titles one non-cover song "Meat Is Murder," and borrows The Smiths' guitar shimmer—Our Ill Wills gets its modern sheen, somewhat ironically, from acoustic instruments. At times, Shout Out Louds sounds like a bunch of former high-school band geeks trying to recreate their record collections. And on songs like the wistful, vaguely tropical "South America," they sound like they're in a cavernous lecture hall, describing how they spent their summer vacation.