Let’s not beat about the bush: Our Ill Wills by the Shout Out Louds is the most exciting new album to grace my ears in months. Ok, so that’s exaggerating. Still, if you want extremely tight, emotionally punchy, innervating indie-pop, then this is it.

Hailing from Sweden, the band consists of five friends with additional creative input coming from Bjorn Ittling, of Peter, Bjorn and John, as producer. Our Ill Wills is stellar in theme and scope, at times sounding like some bizarre mesh between Canadian indie-rockers Arcade Fire and The Cure.‘You Are Dreaming’ is brilliant, singer Adam Olenius’ heartfelt delivery of such melancholy lines as “I was stuck in a conversation about going out / And no, a cigarette can’t cover up the mess I’m in / But it makes me feel less lonely” being endowed with a relentless drive thanks to drummer Eric Edman. Album highlight, the infectiously bubbly ‘Impossible’ buzzes along with seemingly unstoppable nervous energy. Fantastic stuff.
Oliver Downes