I Know You Know

Album Review

Dreamy semi- electronic twee pop with lackadaisical female vocals, I Know You Know is fundamentally not that different from dozens (if not hundreds) of other albums by artists ranging from Saint Etienne to El Perro del Mar. However, the Scandinavian duo Guther fulfill all the requirements of their chosen style of music so effortlessly that their debut album's lack of originality becomes almost beside the point. This is archetypal twee pop, filled with delicate electronics, mild electronic beats and hand percussion accents, strummy acoustic guitar lines and lyrics that tend toward lovelorn melancholia delivered in an untrained voice that often wanders away from generally held concepts of pitch. While bands have been working this style since the days of the Young Marble Giants and the Marine Girls, multi-instrumentalist Berend Intelmann's tunes have a stronger melodic core than many similar acts, making them more consistently memorable, and Julia Guther's vocals are sweetly appealing. There's nothing new on I Know You Know, but there's something to be said for an album that starts with a specific set of artistic criteria and fulfills them all.