album of the week - 3.3

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names

#4
Labrador Records (2009)

why you'll love it: modest dorky pop

why you'll hate it: for sissies

I tend not to review singles, but if Swedish twee-pop duo, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, insists on calling them EPs, I may as well treat them like so. Make no mistake, the opening track will appear on the forthcoming album (which will be titled #5) just as the first track on #1 and #2 eventually made their way to the debut album entitled ... wait for it... #3.

So here we are at #4, many moons after the LP. The Kids have been promising new tunes for nearly two years, so just a taste is both a blessing and a tease. The opening track, "1999", is a perfect pop song. Great hook, more of the classic melodic rambling that made "Rent A Wreck" a fan favorite. The duo hasn't gathered any rust in their downtime.

There are more electronic bells and whistles in the EP, which is a good thing. "Loop Duplicate My Heart" is my favorite SKWBN song. I have no idea if this will be representative of #5 though, as they are the unpredictable type. The theme continues through #4, with "Studenter På Flak" their first Swedish language song. "Europa" is an enjoyable mellow number that's been in demo limbo for a while until now.

"World Music" closes off on a rather artsy tone. While it's still at a standard 3 minute pop song length, it has a real David Byrne ballad vibe. Before you know it, the EP is over. At only about 12 minutes, the EP feels even shorter than it is; but "1999" is such a good song, I could have just listened to that four times in a row and been happy. The Kids have successfuly wet my appetite. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll see #5 this summer.