Last Choice

Sweden’s Love is All follows up the riotous A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night with this brief but powerful release featuring five new songs and the title track, “Last Choice,” lifted from A Hundred Things. Wearing the smartest of influences on their sleeves (the squalling saxophones and yelping vocal style are rooted in the sound of early post-punk bands like X-Ray Spex and Kleenex/Lilliput), Love is All bring a fresh energy to the genre, and with each release they wisely power down a tad, allowing Josephine Olausson to deliver her clever punchlines with more impact (“Loud Heart” is one of the sweetest breakup songs you’ll ever hear). “Early Warnings” bristles with popping floor toms and jittery guitar; the sputtering start of “Vans Vans Vans” gives way — eventually — to guitars chomping at the bit, the perfect sound metaphor for the topic at hand; the stalker overtones of “Jealousy” spin out on a disco vibe, but fizzle with resignation. They pay homage to New Zealand band The Clean on the high energy “From Your Corner,” with loads of guitar reverb, flinty tambourines and jumpy keyboards.