Soundtrack of Our Lives - Origin Vol. 1

Remember when you were in college and there were all those people you didn’t know personally but recognized from around campus? Some of these people intrigued you; others made you sexually excited, and then there were still others that soured you for no apparent reason. Case in point: Origin Vol. I by The Soundtrack of Our Lives. I’ve been aware of this Swedish act for awhile, but I had never heard their work until this review. I assumed T.S.O.O.L. was an indie-pop band, but to my amusement, I discovered they resemble a power guitar classic rock revival with modern electronic sampling instead. And, it’s generally good stuff! The album begins with the intriguing, mid-tempo, head bobbing “Believe I’ve Found” but quickly morphs into a Keith Moon/Pete Townsend rocker with “Transcendental Suicide.” The fury continues into “Bigtime,” a driving guitar shout-a-long. And it’s not until three songs later that “Midnight Children” cools the fire with an alternative swagger akin to a Blur creation. While “Lone Summer Dream” is an acoustically light and playful indie-pop track, the subsequent track,“Royal Explosion, Part II,” resembles a Cream explosion at Royal Albert Hall. And those are the sexually exciting people you see around…no pun intended. The last quarter of the album is where Origin Vol. I begins to go sour. Except for the axe slinging “Age of No Reply,” the last four tracks are boilerplate, uninspiring and without direction. These are the people you see all the time and don’t like without a tangible reason to back up your distaste. Sometimes you get tired of seeing the same people all the time…and that’s a good enough reason for me. [www.thesoundtrackofourlives.com]