Acid House Kings

When they formed in Sweden back in 1992, Acid House Kings had a plan for pop domination. It involved releasing an album every five years and, not surprisingly, they managed to follow such a rigorous schedule and even threw in a handful of EPs for good measure. But it is only now that they have entered their second decade that things are really falling into place because they have just recorded a near-perfect record. Sing Along With is the kind of glorious indie pop that they don’t seem to make any more; or at least, not as frequently as they used to around ten years ago. Completely unpretentious and quietly unassuming, this is one of those albums that is so damned likeable that it is almost impossible to say anything bad about it. This is a lushly arranged record, with lots of strings, lovely boy-girl harmonies and alternating lead vocals that make them sound like both the Concretes and Sodastream. Plus they do it all so effortlessly — the songs are hopelessly romantic and unconcerned with the complexities of life. It is all best summed up by one track: "I Write Summer Songs for No Reason,” and that’s pretty much all you need to know. Although it definitely doesn’t need one, it has a cool gimmick too where the album comes with a DVD featuring karaoke videos for all the songs, allowing anyone to sing along with the band. That turns out to be a good idea because there’s a very good chance all these songs will be stuck in your head and your CD player for quite some time.