Lodger - 'Honeymoon is Over'

Finnish band Lodger got some viral internet attention as a result of their cynical music videos for songs 'I Love Death' and 'Doorsteps'. However, their third, most recent album, Honeymoon is Over (released 2008) shows that they have the capacity to reach higher heights than mild internet stardom.

The opening track 'Requiem' hints, with a short, Pink Flag-esque punk out, that they have promise to be more interesting than the relatively bland rock/pop of their previous releases. Next, 'Chemicals' goes on to prove that they have the ability to write songs that almost match Sebadoh's Bakesale era depressive output.

The rest of the album is a bit hit-and-miss: 'Hairdo' goes from a bit of a rubbish verse to a spectacular chorus, 'Nostalgia' does the opposite and 'So Long' is not my cup of tea at all. Their main drawback seems to tragically be their Finnish origin. The strong accent and often clunky lyrics occasionally get in the way of what could otherwise be great. Despite this, 'I Was Young I Needed the Money', 'Prefontain' and 'Girlfriend' show a skill at crafting energetic Indie Rock songs with pop hooks Guided By Voices would be proud of.

Lodger seem to have disappeared recently, but apparently there's a new album on the way. Hopefully it'll continue where they left off with 'Honeymoon is Over', and they'll continue their progression towards becoming a really, really awesome band that remind me of other awesome bands.

Some tracks (I couldn't find all the ones I really, really liked, but these will do):

Apologies to my millions of readers for not posting in a while

I have recently been listening to Guided by Voices. I downloaded a random few of their albums after watching some videos of them that were related to Pavement videos on YouTube.

They are enjoyable to listen to. Some of their songs are kinda crap, some of their songs are really good and most of their songs are very okay, but are nice to have on in the background when you're doing other things because they make you feel like you're a nonchalant Generation-Xer in Clerks or something.

They make that kind of messy, 90s lo-fi type indie rock that makes you feel okay about being disgustingly lazy as it feels like (and sounds like) they're probably just as disgustingly lazy as you are. However, unlike you, they have the capacity to sound really rocking, in a similar way to songs like Summer Babe by Pavement and Sacred Attention by Sebadoh.

Here are some of my favorite songs that I have heard so far by them. They're probably not their best songs though, as I haven't listened to them nearly as much as I should have, especially considering that I'm writing a blog about them.





Oh also, I forgot to say that their songs are all really short, which means they get extra brownie points.