Tiger Lou are the Swedish entry in the
Radiohead/
Coldplay sweepstakes. You know the rules: atmospheric, sweeping music built on minor chords and loads of introspective lyrics of an epic, miserable nature topped off with soaring and utterly earnest vocals.
Tiger Lou actually do a fairly good job of replicating those two bands on their debut EP,
Trouble and Desire. What they don't do is add anything of their own. They seem content to just be copyists with a good melody or two; "When I Was a Kid" and "Sam, as in Samantha" are pretty nice if not very exciting. The lyrics aren't on the epic and confusing scale of
Radiohead; in fact, they are full of howlers like "Met her last year at a rockabilly show/The bands weren't very good but they never, they never really are," but that is often the case with groups in the sweepstakes. Maybe by the time the band records its full-length album it will have unearthed something new to add to the already tired sound it has co-opted. Until then, give this EP a pass. ~ Tim Sendra