This probably won't win Sweden's Shout Out Louds a bunch of new fans or be their breakthrough into mainstream radio--if there is such a thing anymore for non-American Idol affiliated acts--but for those who enjoyed the band's first two albums they should enjoy this third one as well. The sound isn't radically different and that's a good thing in this case. There's nothing more annoying than when an established act things they need to tinker needlessly with their sound or "experiment" in some other genre. It has the same easy flow as "Howl Howl Gaff Gaff" and "Our Ill Wills" that make it a pleasure to listen to the whole album.

If you haven't really heard this band but you're a fan of other acts like Belle & Sebastian, Kings of Convenience, Camera Obscura, or even the Cure then you should check this out. They are easily my favorite Swedish group since Roxette in the early '90s.

That is all.

I can't get enough of this album.

I have the other two SOL albums, and enjoy them (I'd give them 4s out of 5s). This one is a tad different though - a little less accent, certainly a little more mature sound. I don't know. Whatever it is, I'm a big fan. Certainly my album of the year.

Too Late Too Slow is probably the only song I regularly skip, but I thoroughly enjoy all the rest. It's non-offensive, but catchy nonetheless. I know I sound like a fan boy, but there isn't much music out there where I am as much of a fan. These guys really surprised me.

So the first time I popped this CD in I knew I was in for something different. I could tell that their direction was changing from listening to "Walls" the first single. So I popped the CD in realizing that those real poppy flavored songs from the past two albums weren't going to be on this record. I knew that the Shout Out Louds were maturing. Listening to "Walls" I conjured this image in my mind that this was Indie's response to U2. So on came "1999." The song was peppy and had that great signature Shout Out Louds sound, but with more cohesion and direction. I thought to myself, I can really dig this new direction. It's the same band, just more focused and matured.

Then "Fall Hard" came on. I loved it even more than the first track. It reminded me of the same beautiful vibe "Hard Rain" gave on the last record. It is a slower track I guess, but really it's very danceable and peppy. I loved it. Then "Play The Game" came on. This one is definitely slow. But I thought to myself, not bad. I liked it, and can handle a few slow songs on a CD.

"Walls" is great too, but it leaves me wanting more. I feel like it took too long to build up, and then just stopped when it really began to rock. But it is a great song.

Track 5 is when the album takes a nosedive. "The Candle Burned Out" is a slow atmospheric song that drones on. It has nothing interesting going on in it. Unfortunately, track 6-8 have the same formula of slow and boring. Now, it's not that I'm biased against slow songs. The Shout Out Louds have written some excellent slow songs. However, these songs have nothing going for them. They are all filler. The bass does nothing, the guitars are contrived. I thought to myself, this album is becoming a bad 80s alternative album.

"Show Me Something New" the band picks it up again. Then the album finishes with "Too Late, Too Slow." This is an example of a good interesting slow. The dual vocals are beautiful. However, by that point of the album it really is too late, the album really is too slow.

In my opinion, they should've scratched songs 5-8 and just released a teaser EP. Now, I know that the band is transitioning into their new sound. But there really is no excuse for those songs. They proved in tracks 1-4 that they can really rock their new sound.

Overall, half of the album is good. The other half is completely forgettable. I find myself putting the CD in, listening to the first 4 tracks, and then skipping to track 10. I was quite disappointed with this release. But I gave myself a few weeks, and tried to let it grow on me. It didn't. It's not bad, just nothing special, but definitely a letdown from their previous albums. Hopefully, next time they come out with something more interesting.

Whether it's their effervescent boy-girl harmonies, lead singer Adam Olenius' Robert Smith via Sweden accent, or merely their completely innocent, inoffensive image, Stockholm five-piece Shout Out Louds have never really been able to differentiate themselves from the wave of indie-pop bands seemingly pouring out of the Great White North since ABBA. Even after their second album, 2007's wonderfully multicolored Our Ill Wills, the band was continually relegated to One Tree Hill-background status, while arguably less-talented bands like Peter Bjorn & John hit the mainstream with some nifty whistling. Work, then, seems like a middle finger to the rest of the industry that has largely ignored them, its laughably serious cover and simplistic title a brazen sign to the world that they're here to work, by God! It's stripped down and remarkably focused compared to their previous two efforts, and producer Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, the Shins) brings out the indie big guns. It's unfortunate, however, that it's this single-minded directive that turns Work into a bit of a regression of their sound.

Our Ill Wills was a wildly sprawling affair, one that dabbled in South American bossa nova as often as it cribbed from `80s new wave, but it was the band's undeniable heart and Olenius' often emotionally bare performances that made it one of the finest examples of Northern indie pop. Here, nostalgic opener "1999" sets things up perfectly for a dynamite sequel, with its verses mourning "how can I forget the nights we killed / every summer night / you know the sun never sets around here / that is what we wake for up here" while Bebban Stenborg's lovely soprano colors in the borders and a yearning guitar line completes the sepia-toned picture. But follow-up "Fall Hard" is an immediate letdown, rote Cure-ish synth-rock with an admittedly money chorus that still lacks that certain emotional punch, that red-blooded fire that makes "1999" hit so hard and what made their last record so affecting. It's a problem that continues in first single "Walls," where the muted climax makes the slow buildup that preceded it completely lifeless. Frankly disturbing, actually, is that more than a few of the songs here take the titular noun to heart a bit too much, mid tempo slush like "Four by Four" or the aimless atmospherics of "Candle Burned Out" missing that indefinable passion; missing any sort of authentic feeling, really.

It's these half-hearted attempts that make the successes on Work so striking when they do hit the mark. Songs like "Play The Game" and the hypnotic "Moon" are veritable Shout Out Louds classics, taking the slow burn idiom that they mastered on Our Ill Wills and elevating them, whether it be with ethereal guitar melodies, the haunting addition of strings, or Olenius' on-the-verge-of-a-breakdown intimacy. Just as effective is the rave-up of "Show Me Something New," which harkens back to their high-octane debut, or the riveting, anthemic "Throwing Stones," where the band actually sounds happy to be living the dream and not so damn heartbroken. It's these kinds of songs that make it seem near criminal that Shout Out Louds were never able to achieve the sort of exposure of a PB & J or even the Hives, and matches up the best aspects of the group's sound: namely, swooning, sugary melodies via synths and guitar and Olenius' distinctive, confidential vocal style.

And then the album closes out with a shimmering mess like "Too Late, Too Slow," a jumble of fuzz and whispery vocals that never really rises above its self-created muddle, and you wonder what happened to the balls-out band of the past. Work is not a bad album by any measure, and it's a thoroughly enjoyable experience for any fans of the genre. But as the third album for a band that seemed to be destined to make the jump from merely great to one of the landmark acts, it's a definite step back, one that seems content to work within the boundaries of its influences and journey out only for the occasional track. In other words, it too often sounds like just work for the sake of Work.