After waiting two years to get an American record deal for their debut release Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, Sweden's Shout Out Louds have finally found a home on Euro-friendly major label Capitol Records; already home to bigger acts such as Radiohead, Coldplay, Doves and Supergrass. Shout Out Louds aren't necessarily brit-pop influenced like those other bands however. They're not even punk influenced like most of their countrymen such as The Hives and The (International) Noise Conspiracy. No, Shout Out Louds are more Indie/Power Pop than anything, and the only countrymen (and women) they're most instantly comparable to are The Concretes, another band that made a critical smash last year and are now heard everywhere in Target commercials.

Shout Out Louds are actually a little more rock-oriented than The Concretes and I really believe they have a better shot at being successful in America. Chalk that up to vocalist Adam Olenius who sounds very similar to Indie Rock God of the moment Connor Oberst of Bright Eyes and at times even Doug Martsch and Jonathan Donahue of Built To Spill and Mercury Rev respectively. Olenius and company aren't nearly as serious as all those bands though. How could you possibly take them as seriously when, amusingly enough, they open their album with the starting beeps of the old Atari game Pole Position? Those aren't the only set of beeps featured on Howl Howl Gaff Gaff either. Best track by far "Hurry Up Let's Go" features a cardiogram machine near the very end, and when Olenius states the line "Let's break this heart in two," the cardiogram beeps right down to the sound of a heart flatlining. Clever indeed. Howl Howl Gaff Gaff is a very impressive debut album, and fans of power pop bands like New Pornographers and Saturday Looks Good To Me will want to invest time in these guys immediately.