Amidst the devoted flock of Saint Etienne/Sarah Records disciples who keep the
twee faith burning in Sweden, Johan Angergård has a special place at the
head of the table. As founding member of jangle-pop combo Poprace, autumnal boy/girl
love-in Club 8, and faux-garage-rock big-band The Legends, Angergård has
been almost a prince among the men who wear anoraks, and an important part of
his lineage has been Acid House Kings. Whilst they've often toiled in much more
obscurity than some of their "related" bands, AHK have been the constant in Angergård's
discography; now charting 15 years and five albums of jangly, bubblegummy, whispery-quiet
pop goodness. Helmed by Johan and his brother, Nikas — the guy behind Red
Sleeping Beauty, a band who easily could've copped the stupid-large success that
eventually met their homies The Cardigans — the crew've made real good on
that twee promise of delivering sunshine-and-harmony-and-major-chords, but with
a certain delicacy and restraint, never letting the incessant melody, and the
relentlessly "up" nature of the chosen chords, distract from the fact that their
music is about shy people thinking introspective things, about lovelorn boys
and girls in small-town bedrooms, dreaming of future days in which sadness will
have dissipated amidst big-city glamour. In such, Sing Along With Acid House
Kings is not just another sunny day in the life of the Angergårds,
but, pleasingly, essentially the culmination of the brothers' longtime/lifetime
work. Their fifth longplayer seems, finally, to be the one that'll elevate AHK
into much-adored status, ascending into so-indie royalty on the backs of unbelievably
tight pop-song penmanship. Shit like "Do What You Wanna Do," "I Write Summer
Songs for No Reason" and "Sleeping" are like studies in matching melody and harmony
for three inoffensive, instantly memorable minutes.
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