There's a reason the Concretes' latest album title comes in the form of a greeting, and it's not that they've secretly guessed Ryan Schreiber's middle name. The Swedish septet's recent woes have been well-documented: gear theft, canceled tour, lead singer Victoria Bergsman taking off for Taken By Trees. But the group's third proper album, Hey Trouble-- their first without Bergsman-- doesn't wallow in all the shit hitting the fan (that'd be gross). Instead, the new record greets head-on the group's legacy of Jesus & Mary Chain swirl and sashaying girl-group sweetness.
As far as that's a step back from the piano-led schmaltz of 2006's In Color, it's actually a step forward for the group. At the same time, any similarities to the Concretes' 2004 self-titled breakthrough only underscore the ways the current effort falls short. Pop gets tangled up with memory on Hey Trouble, sometimes in a far more overt way than on the group's previous releases (which, like much Swedish pop, have demonstrated a deep knowledge of classic records). Drummer-turned-frontwoman Lisa Milberg gives the new Concretes a wobbly, Bergsman-like center, and backing singer Maria Eriksson has already proved her chops with little-known side project Heikki. Neither, however, can match the former singer's distinctive charms.
The songs on Hey Trouble talk about pop's ineffable magic more often than they conjure it. All too aware of post-departure success stories like Fleetwood Mac's transformation after the exit of Peter Green, the Concretes make their biggest sonic leap on first single "Kids", opting for a forgettable lap-pop sheen. The song recounts Milberg and Eriksson's long-shared love of music, with a chorus suggesting life is but a song ("Let's go back to the part/ We still know by heart"). Second single "Oh Boy" fares better, as longtime producer Jari Haapalainen brings back the dramatic gestures and reverb-heavy shuffle of the Concretes' best songs. Milberg's voice is more exposed on slower tracks like finale "Simple Song", which takes the pop referentiality of past singles like the exquisite "You Can't Hurry Love" to an uncomfortable conclusion: "I just walk away like Renee," Milberg sings, and then the horns quote John Denver's "Annie's Song".
The Concretes and Bergsman may have gone their separate ways, but both are at times sounding more and more like the same band: Camera Obscura. The Scottish group's Tracyanne Campbell wrote perhaps the best song on Taken By Trees' new Open Field, and Hey Trouble producer Haapalainen was also behind Camera Obscura's latest, 2006's Let's Get Out of This Country. Here, "A Whale's Heart" comes too close to JAMC for Campbell & co., but the melancholic sway of "Didion" or Motown bounce of "Are You Prepared" would seem just as at home on either indie-pop group's albums.
Even as Haapalainen's contributions continue to bolster the Concretes, other collaborations on Hey Trouble bear less fruit. Labelmate Frida Hyvönen provides an extra set of vocals on round-style opener "Hey Trouble", a fragment that sounds like A Sunny Day in Glasgow without the psychedelic haze. "If We're Lucky We Don't Get There on Time", a duet with Little Wings' Kyle Field, is a travel song at a tortoise's pace. The Concretes should be commended for bouncing back, but Hey Trouble won't knock you over the way The Concretes did. It was a pleasure, then.
