Thursday 10/04/08 Shout Out Louds @ Bush Hall, London

If the Shout Out Louds were to be taken at face or name value, then newcomers present among the variable bunch at Bush Hall’s show tonight, may be shocked as they are drenched by incessant cheery melodies like downpours of rain.

But it’s not just the size of the Stockholm six-piece which contributes to the strength of their happy-clappy outbreaks, with two keyboards, umpteen guitars, a cowbell and an accordion they resemble a mini orchestra that panders to the Arcade Fire approach.

There’s no signs of the ill-health reported earlier in the week that resulted in the premature end of their Leeds show, as the big-band sound swells out to the back of the room, with new single, Impossible and the set focus becomes forthcoming album, ‘Our Ill Wills’. Though they might be pop on the surface, lead singer and guitarist, Adam Olenius possesses a misery in his vocals which flits between Connor Oberst and Robert Smith yet it is ripe for the Shout Out Loud’s romance. However, it all goes a bit too twee when keyboardist Bebban Stenborg’ takes over, steering them down a Beautiful South route that’s a little cul-de-sac.

The shouts (finally) arrive in abundance, from the now over-keen crowd with last year’s anthem, ‘Tonight I Have To Leave It’, before 2005’s, ‘The Comeback’. Both could induce rampant lighter waving action were it not for the ban. To some it was a night of delights, to others it was nothing to shout about.