CD Review

Like songs filtered through an all-night diner owned by a 27 year old Neil Young, Love as Laughter immediately strikes me as a genre-bending, vinyl collecting group of guys who spend more days comparing record needles than playing music. However, while such time could perhaps be better used, Laughter’s Fifth is a spectacular example of what happens when the good part of the 60s collides with the even better parts of the late 90s. One part Neil Young, two parts Seattle indie, Love as Laughter’s slow, raunchy approach succeeds for their heroic traipse into musical areas as sacred as Area 51.

“Every Midnight Song” opens with a simple piano strike, followed closely by guitar plucking. The song builds to a glorious crescendo before exploding into an all out assault. As the album’s stand-out track, its destiny is in a live show where such a jam could be extended for at least 15 minutes. The bass slams into the song like a runaway semi heading south on the I5 towards Portland and when the distortion hits 3 minutes in, the results are spectacular. “Dirty Lives” is exalted by the hand-clapping thrown in with the John Fogerty rhythms that hold it up. One can only picture a Love as Laughter meets Kings of Leon Tour this summer, hitting all the hot spots like South Georgia and western Kansas before making the ever-necessary indie stops, Seattle and Montreal.

Love as Laughter exists as a collection of 40 years of music and thankfully their approach is one that warrants praise. Handclaps collide with raunchy guitars and surfboard vocals to create nothing less than a beach party for hippies, mod rockers, and emo kids wearing Chucks. Its pure Subpop. From their Modest Mouse-drumming techniques to the speak/sing Bright Eyes shtick to Kings of Leon ‘the reductionism apparent on ‘Idol Worship! Idol Worship!, Love as Laughter is a Best Of for indie acts since the mid 90s. Hell, the liner notes of the CD open into a poster.