As if the name wasn’t enough, the Gothenburg collective known as Love Is All is happy. No, not happy. Merry. Yeah, that’s it: Merry. The amount of joy throughout the band’s catalogue would be enough to choke Nietzsche, and on the band’s third effort, Two Thousand and Ten Injuries, it’s obvious from the outset they want to keep it that way.From the barroom shuffle of ‘Bigger Bolder’ to the disco-infused garage rock of ‘Less Than Thrilled’ to the hip-hop bent of ‘A Side in a Bed,’ it’s clear that LIA adores fun and wants you to join in. The songs’ playful nature, both individually and as a whole, suggest that LIA desire greatly to prove the truth of the band’s namesake. What’s most notable about Injuries, though, is how loud it screams, “Vinyl!” Judging by the songwriting, as well as the track order, this collection of tunes was carefully chosen and arranged ”“ and for a purpose. Side A contains all of the frenzied garage rockers, while Side B includes the semi-tranquil numbers. This seems to have been done in order to reach a climax precisely during the final minute ‘Kungen,’ a track that suddenly goes from being a perfect karaoke garage-pop sing-along to messy, spastic punk. It’s half of what sums up the album’s title perfectly.Which brings me to the lyrics. Frontwoman Josephine Olausson and her love-is-a-messy affair lyrics are the other half of the odd dichotomy that make Love Is All so damn fascinating ”“ this, of course, explains the other half of the album title. Clearly, Olausson has been hurt by love more than once and she has no trouble describing it in vivid detail. The album opens with the ‘Bigger Bolder’ wherein she states, “Bigger, bolder/ My love for you/ Taller, stronger, my love for you,” and ends with ‘Take Your Time’ where she asserts, “Take your time, not mine/ I waited forever,” Olausson’s got a big heart and lots of love to give but that same heart can hurt big, too. That’s cinematic style right there. While love (and all of its push-pull dynamism) is the main topic of the record, it’s not the only one. ‘Early Warnings,’ for example, details in a humorously matter-of-fact style a day consumed with bad luck that sees Olausson hitting her head on a bookshelf while getting out of bed and then slipping on soap in the shower; that’s just the beginning.Fun is contagious because everyone relishes a good time. Love, conversely, can be a mighty painful affair, one that starts out as the most beautiful thing in the world and ends as hell on earth. Fun (as happiness) and love are the two universal experiences in life and, therefore, the perfect pair in life. This, of course, explains why Two Thousand and Ten Injuries is such a thrilling album. It also explains why Love Is All is such a thrilling band. Indeed, sometimes ya gotta be the most direct to get beyond the most existential crisis.mp3:> Love Is All: “Repetition”