Mando Diao are a rock group from Sweden who've patterned themselves, in look and sound, after 1960s Mod culture, yet are signed to the otherwise electronic-oriented Mute label. We could lump them in with their countrymen like the Hives, Sahara Hotnights, and International Noise Conspiracy, but we can all leap for the buzzer to see who spots those bands' influences the fastest. You can do the same for Mando Diao who graft British Invasion melodies over garage-rock riffs. It's a simple formula, and one they got plenty of mileage out of on their debut, Bring 'Em In.
Follow-up Hurricane Bar was produced by Richard Rainey, perhaps best known for working on U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind. Their approach hasn't changed much, but the scales have tipped considerably away from garage-rock enthusiasm and towards Anglophile melodies. In doing so, Hurricane Bar has diluted the two things that made Mando Diao's first album distinct: immediacy and a sense of fun.
Bring Em In split the songs between two singers, Björn Dixgärd and Gustaf Norén, though the lion's share of memorable melodies went to Dixgärd. Things are inverted this time, with Dixgärd limited to five of 14 tracks and one extra chorus on "God Knows". That's unfortunate, because Dixgärd's throaty Vegas crooning sounds effortless and soulful. Norén carries the melodies just fine, but there's a difference between carrying and selling, as evidenced by "God Knows", on which Norén plays second banana in the verses and Dixgärd walks away with the album's catchiest melody.
Norén's raspy, nasal voice fits the Brit Invasion-biting melodies better than the band's garage rock tracks, and since this LP has more stuffy ballads and Libertines-aping songs than stompers, perhaps that's why he's taken the lead. But while it's true that on this album the band displays more range-- including new touches such as the piano break in "You Can't Steal My Love" or the serene "Ringing Bells"-- I'd rather take generic revivalism with energy and a charismatic singer over an album that's simply derivative.
