David & The Citizens: Until The Sadness Is Gone

Swedish indie-pop act David & The Citizens made its U.S. debut earlier this year with a six-song EP that emphasized the band's sunny side, but its first American full-length, Until The Sadness Is Gone, has an earthier feel. Some songs recall R.E.M. and Counting Crows, while others toy with soulful horns and—believe it or not—klezmer interludes. This eclectic, kitchen-sink approach should be familiar to fans of Amerindie bands like Butterglory and Bright Eyes, and if there's a knock against David & The Citizens, it's that they can be a little derivative. Why travel halfway around the world to get a meal you're tired of eating at home

But on closer inspection, Until The Sadness Is Gone proves sturdier than it initially appears. Bandleader David Fridlund has a rich, full-throated vocal style, and his lyrics wander freely outside of any kind of rhyme or cadence, almost as though they were written in a foreign language and then translated into English. (Maybe they were.) On the aggressive, almost emo-y title track, Fridlund delivers a powerhouse rant about sex, heartbreak, and rock 'n' roll, while on "Never A Bottom," he takes the structure of a '70s-style pop ballad—complete with downshift and groundswell—then sings romantic lines that get more progressively desperate. This album goes a long way toward explaining how nearly any played-out genre can be rehabilitated by songwriters with real points of view, however manic.