Love Is All – CAMP Basement, London 11/06/2010

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When it comes to gigs, the maxim “less is more” often applies. However, there is a limit. A thirty-five minute performance may be excusable for an unsigned band, or an outfit with a six-song EP to their name, but for an established act like Love Is All, to play such a brief headline set was disappointing to say the least. Even if they did have a new member who didn’t know all the songs, it’s a shame they couldn’t have thrown in a few covers, or worked out some abbreviated arrangements – the fact they’ve done free in-stores that have lasted longer must have rankled with those souls who paid to see them.

What made it worse is that what they did play was bloody excellent. Like all Swedish bands ever, they’ve got a knack for melody to make any non-Scandinavian indie rocker green with envy. Josephine Olausson may lack much in the way of traditional vocal talent, yelping with endearing enthusiasm rather than attempting to hit notes as such, but it works in the context of the band’s sound. Songs that perhaps didn’t reach their full potential on album are infused with a fantastic vitality, with the vibrant new material coming across like a rockier Still Flyin’, and a judicious lashing of saxomophone always goes down well. If it hadn’t been for the sheer brevity of the thing, it could have well been one of the surprise highlights of the year so far, but hey, it was great while it lasted.