Where swooning Swedish outfit
Those Dancing Days once proved synonymous with twee and chirpy, the synth hysteria of Reaching Forward, opener to sophomore effort Daydreams & Nightmares puts paid to stereotype, arpeggiating menacingly amidst whirring hunks of tremolo guitar and hurricane rhythm. For the Wichita älsklingar now revel primarily in the minor key, conducted by chorus-laden bass pulsations reminiscent of Michael Dempsey's lower frequency work with Sussex gloomy doomsters The Cure to which single I'll Be Yours attests, a vaguely forlorn remake/remodel of Inbetween Days, a delectable ode to inexhaustible affection. The typecast indie of Dream About Me crescendos in a radiant climax that's predictably, distinctly more quixotic than it is nightmarish, Linnea Jönsson cooing of happy endings, before segueing into the chimerical romp of Help Me Close My Eyes. Can't Find Entrance trots about on trodden ground of BBC video montage soundtrack, whilst the pseudo-jazz slump of Forest Of Love, again inherently indebted to Robert Smith et al. is ever so slightly forbidding, like a stroll in solitude through frosted autumnal leaves in frigid Swedish nowhere. Fuckarias, bemusingly entitled, beguilingly rollocking perks proceedings conclusively, screeching keys and fuzzy power chords digesting and nonchalantly disgorging the garage door rawk of Be Your Own Pet, purveying a brattish attitude that's unfortunately been absent from much of the quintet's previous history. Similarly the greatest stalkerish slab of anthemia this side of Chase & Status tedium, I Know Where You Live pt. 2, the disconcerting highlight of an ebullient LP is roisterous in the extreme, marching drums and roughed up distortion exuding raw vivacity. Closer One Day Forever meanwhile, a silky, heartfelt duet with Maccabee Orlando Weeks is more or less evocative of the xx were they dosed up on treble and serotonin, and succinctly rounds off a record that largely inhabits glorious reverie.
