Work

Sweden’s Shout Out Louds have overcome the fact that singer Adam Olenius’ voice is sometimes uncannily similar to the Cure’s Robert Smith, and while Work does carry a Cure-trademarked melancholy (plus the occasional fat bass line), the feel is mostly of a band growing into its own shoes, and expanding on its already considerable songwriting talents. Acoustic guitar and piano on songs like “Four By Four,” strings on “Paper Moon” and spooky beds of organ on “The Candle Burned Out” contribute to the somber side of the album, and smartly crafted melodies —  both bittersweet (“Throwing Stones,” “Show Me Something New”) and bubbly (“1999,” “Fall Hard”) — color the lighter side. “Walls,” released as a single after “Fall Hard,” trades in a verse-chorus-verse formula for a steady layering of drums and guitars — with a neat flight of piano chords serving as the chorus/hook — and Olenius’ voice riding the tune’s quickening pace to an urgent coda: “Never trust anyone, so run away, run, run, run, run!” It’s a song that cleverly embeds in your head, without obvious stickiness, as does much of Work.