The Livelong June – Self Oppressor (Album – ScentAir Records)
Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Indie-Pop.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Five years after their great debut album (cf. “The Art Of Living”) Swedish duo The Livelong June strike back with “Self Oppressor”.
Content: The sound remains in the line of the debut work; a perfect fusion between Electro- and Indie-Pop. The songs have been empowered with guitar play while remaining melodic. One of the main characteristics remain the singer’s very particular timbre of voice reminding me of Placebo frontman Brian Molko.
+ + + : I remain addicted to the ‘power-pop’ style of this band. They don’t reinvent anything and yet this is not a typical Electro-Pop production. There’s a naughty touch on top of their work; something unpolished and yet melodic. It makes the band’s originality resulting in a few new noticeable songs like the opening title song, “The Greatest Loss”, the slower “The Weight Of The World” and the somewhat Body-Pop sounding “Love Song”.
– – – : I’m still not a fan of the album’s front cover. Production wise the sound mixing could have been better. I’m not a huge fan of the last song which sounds like white noise until something happens after 9 minutes. “Self Oppressor” is however a cool piece of music but with fewer highlights than the previous album.
Conclusion: The Lifelong June remains my referential band from the ScentAir roster; great and powerful Electro/Indie-Pop music.
Best songs: “Self Oppressor”, “The Greatest Loss”, “The Weight Of The World”, “Love Song”, “Betrayal”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.thelivelongjune.com / www.facebook.com/thelivelongjune
Label: www.scent-air.ru / www.facebook.com/ScentairRecords
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