I seem to have been somewhat fixated with Finnish releases this week (Ghosts on TV, The Bunkers, Mantaray, Dear Moon and more...), so I might as well go for a clean sweep and head back to an absolute old favourite, Helsinki based Love Sport, part of the Soliti family that’s given us so many lovely releases over the last few years, from Black Lizard and Delay Trees, to more recent releases from the likes of Stinako.
Slightly scarily we first wrote about Love Sport back in 2014, when they released their GOL!! EP (I remember being unsure about the name at first, but now I even want a Love Sport t-shirt) and we followed their progress through to their debut Album release ‘Dull Tracks’ in 2017, but they’ve been on a break since. Their return was somewhat inevitable, as friends who’ve been playing in bands for decades, and ‘Life's a joke’ is the 1st single from their brand new album, which is due out later in May, and rather grandly entitled ‘And Justice For All’.
‘Life’s a joke’ has a fairly simple enough premise, as Love Sport’s lead vocalist Teemu Tanner explained, "The song pretty much sets the tone of the lyrics for the whole album. It's a story about trust, companionship and what people are willing to sacrifice for their needs."
It's been interesting listening to the new song compared to the GOL!! EP, because it’s a reminder that the band’s sound has matured, ‘meatier’ guitars, strengthened and more confident sounding vocals, but similar to all their tracks, ‘Life’s a joke’ is still tuneful indie rock, with the same vibrancy and energy that I’ve always liked. It just always sounds like these guys are having great fun writing and recording songs together.
This is ‘Life’s a Joke’:
‘And Justice For All’ will be released through Soliti on 22nd May.
Promo pic by Jukka Henri Juhani