Let's Say We Did - Let's Say We Did

Album review by KevW

This article also appears on http://www.soundsxp.com

There's a corner of the world where the alt-rock of the early 90s is still, rightly, considered worthy of replicating, guitars still rule and the internet and Simon Cowell haven't come along to ruin everything. That place is Scandinavia and in the past few years they've produced some of the finest fuzzy indie bands around. From The Raveonettes (Denmark) to I Was A King (Norway), Sad Day For Puppets (Sweden), The New Tigers (Finland) and many many more, there's been plenty to keep us guitar fans from wanting to hurl our deluxe vinyl boxsets at the TV next time we see fire spurting from Lady Ga Ga's tits.

Over the course of three self-released EPs, Stockholm quintet Let's Say We Did have drawn comparisons to Pavement and Teenage Fanclub, and listening to their eponymous debut album it's easy to see why. LSWD combine the former's lo-fi slacker-pop with the latter's melodic sensibility and their shared love of warm, mild distortion. As debuts go, they don't come much more solid than this; there's not a weak link amongst these ten tracks, but at the same time there are no real stand-outs, no big 'eureka!' moments. As such this album is just very good rather than great, but it's a little unfair to criticise a band who haven't really put a foot wrong.

'It's OK', 'Come On Honey', 'On The Day' and others are lovely upbeat-yet-laid-back examples of guitar-pop that would be more than satisfactory as singles, and the soft-focus 'Blue Skies' is wonderfully dreamy and reflective. Despite this there's still the nagging sense that if just a couple of tracks stepped up to the next level it would turn a few more people on to this charming collection by gaining them more coverage. As it is, we'll just have to try and make them the word-of-mouth success they deserve to be, so give them a little of your time and tell your mates to do the same. You won't be disappointed.

Free download: It's OK

Free download: Straight Back To You

S/T by Let's Say We Did

Let's Say We Did's website

Buy the album.






For more news, reviews and downloads follow The Sound Of Confusion on Facebook or Twitter

soundofconfusion@hotmail.co.uk