While I tend to make fun of obscure locations of artists as power pop "hotbeds", there's no irony involved when I describe Sweden as such, given their long and storied history of great guitar pop. And In Elvis Garage (from Malmo) does the tradition proud with their excellent debut Winning by Cheating.
There's a lot to like here. Opener "Dazed and Distraught" is a bouncy number that reminds me of Sloan's "Everything You've Done Wrong", horns and all; "Outdated Charts" is a 1:26 burst of Merrymakers-style pop; the same description applies to "The Sun Rises Girl Forgets"; "No Such Thing" has more of a modern sheen but is still catchy as hell; "Residue" earns them the New Poronographers comparisons; and "Wavering" is piledriving surf pop a la Hawaii Mud Bombers. The rest of the tracks not mentioned here are just as good as well; there are no weak ones to program out or skip over. An early best of 2008 contender.
Kudos to Ray at Kool Kat for getting this one distributed in the USA - reward him for his good taste by picking up a copy.
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