By: David Schultz
Photos from TSOOL MySpace Profile.

Relatively unheard of in America, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives are quite big in their homeland of Sweden where they've been churning out slick pastiches of pop for more than a decade. Finally cracking the American markets in the fall of 2002 with their wonderfully crafted Behind The Music, they finally found a Stateside audience, snagging a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album in the process. With their crisp melodies, catchy hooks, Beatles-derived psychedelia and penchant for moody piano ballads, T.S.O.O.L. sounds somewhat like a pop-minded version of The Stone Roses. Without a current album to promote, their last being A Present From The Past, a collection of B-sides and outtakes, that has yet to be released in America., The Soundtrack Of Our Lives came to New York City's Mercury Lounge for what appears to be a one-off show while they record their latest album.

The Soundtrack Of Our Lives looks like they've mixed and matched from different eras. Hefty lead singer Ebbot Lundberg looks like a cross between Bob Seger and (a thinner) John Goodman; Mattias Barjed could have been the fifth member of Stillwater, or at least Billy Crudup's stunt double; his counterpart on guitar, Ian Person, had an natty, pressed Eighties new-wave thing going and with his stylish chapeau, drummer Fredrik Sandsten dressed like he was about to anchor a Sixties-style skiffle band. Despite the varying dress, the band is quite unified in their sound. Although they may try to give the appearance of letting things fly, their show is very polished and T.S.O.O.L. knows exactly what buttons to push with their audience.

On Wednesday night, Soundtrack Of Our Lives treated the sold-out Mercury Lounge to two sets: opening with an inappropriately titled acoustic set and finishing by going electric. The term "acoustic" must mean something different in Sweden as T.S.O.O.L.'s version consisted of the entire band sitting down and guitarists Ian Person and Mattias Barjed rotating the use of an acoustic guitar while everyone else played electric instruments. During the "acoustic" set, T.S.O.O.L. showed a remarkable ability to build songs to satisfying crescendos with a style that seemed refined in its ability to appear off-the-cuff. They did not tailor either set for the American audience. While they touched on "Mind The Gap," "Surround Sister" and "21st Century Ripoff" from Behind The Music, they primarily mixed older material from their European albums with some newer songs likely to appear on Origin vol. 2. Much of the non-Behind The Music fare sounded like modern day Sixties-era psychedelic pop. Sandsten's drumming moved from strictly setting the beat to tribalesque tom toms and Martin Hederos' organ passages transformed the cellar-like space of the Mercury Lounge into a cathedral, going from dirge-like sincerity to a Moody Blues style dreamy atmosphere.

Ebbot Lundberg's blunt-edged voice started to fade as the evening went on but he seemed to keep enough in reserve to show an interesting range. Keeping himself well modulated for the up-tempo numbers, Lundberg soared into the higher pitches of "Broken Imaginary Time" hitting notes that seemed beyond his ability. On the Merc's modest stage, Lundberg's girth made him a dominating spectacle as he bounded about the stage, jumping into the audience during the electric set's conclusion. The formidable guitar duo of Barjed and Person create an impressive wall of sound, merging together well. During the electric set, Person remained quite restrained, leaving the rock star moves and gyrations to Barjed and Lundberg. By design, T.S.O.O.L.'s poppy guitar licks dominate, but bassist Kalle Gustafsson-Jerneholm carried a great number of the instrumental passages with some intricate work. Gustafsson-Jerneholm might be the hidden treasure in this band of fine musicians; he not only propelled many of the songs along, the jams that closed them out often rested squarely on his bass lines.

The Swedes contribution to the musical landscape tends to runs towards disposable but enduring pop like Abba, Ace Of Base and whoever writes those Britney Spears songs that stick in your head long past their expiration date. Especially on stage, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives pack a much stronger punch then any of their Swedish brethren. Though cleaned up a bit on their albums, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives plays with a raw emotion that they can't quell. With the guitar lines battling behind Lundberg's straining voice in explosive bursts, you get a sense of what The Kinks might have been like if they were Swedish and bereft of sibling rivalry.

Labels: Live Reviews, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives