Liechtenstein – Survival Strategies In A Modern World

More great stuff from Sweden, Liechtenstein hailing from the Gothenburg hotbed of pop. Their debut album starts with All At Once, which is an askance eighties girl group in a hollow world, beautifully rounded and structured vocals with a foreign accent and a rumbling doom laden tune, which still has a special gravitas. Postcard is a darker and more well assured Talulah Gosh, barrelling gently by like a steaming train. Sophistication starts clopping like The Rapture in a spaghetti western, before ascending into a big bundle of harmonies, then back, then back again. By Staying Here (We Will Slowly Disappear) starts with a sixties girl group sigh, before going all happy and devil may care, it’s a breezy and airy thing reminiscent of the Darling Buds. A military drumbeat introduces Wallpaper Stripes, ushering a glossy, other worldy vocal along. Roses In The Park is sonically fuzzy, a bit like a hybrid between The Flatmates and early primitive Mary Chain while Reflections carries on on the dark side, spooky and eerie and sounding like its been produced by Joe Meek with his ghostly techniques. White Dress starts all Raveonettes primal beat, but turns into something altogether more special, the girls stepping through a weird dream world and emerging the other end as some robots with hearts. The End is doomy pop, like The Crystals or some other troubled sixties band. I wasn’t expecting too much from this album, but it has exceeded that and much, much more. It’s a lovely and dark thing, sounding like nothing else today.

Survival Strategies In A Modern World is out now on Slumberland Records
Liechtenstein myspace is here