The Danish duo
Rumskib could hardly wear their hearts more openly on their sleeves given the cover of their debut album -- if not exactly like
Loveless, it's not about to hide the ancestry at all. Taking a time-honored approach --
Keith Canisius handles all the music and backing singing, Tine Louise Kortermand the vocals -- from the first track there's as much woozy guitar, clattering beats, and keening, half-understandable lyrics as one could want from an album with song titles like "Dreampoppers Tribute" and "Think Eyes Away." Then there's "Girl Afraid," though in a surprising touch it's an original rather than a
Smiths cover. Sometimes a spikier side comes through, to the duo's credit, as on the chunky stop-start shimmer and crash of "Springtime," with a distinctly
Cure-tinged break. That band has other echoes throughout, as do
Lush on songs like "Where Are the Flowers." If no surprises are forthcoming, then at least
Rumskib know how to work within the form nicely enough. ~ Ned Raggett