Sad Day For Puppets - Pale Silver & Shiny Gold

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The second album from Sad Day For Puppets sees the band perhaps attempting to change the way they're perceived. Having toured with sonic terrorists A Place To Bury Strangers, Sad Day have added a bit more grit and vigour to their sound. To augment this new darker outlook, the fact that they come from Blackeberg in Sweden - the same town that Let The Right One In was filmed in - seems to be one of the key facts surrounding the band at the moment.

Such detail is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Sure it sets the scene nicely, but Sad Day for Puppets were writing disarmingly cute indie songs a little over a year ago for their debut album Unknown Colours, and they were from Blackeberg then too. What is not insignificant is that, with Pale Silver & Shiny Gold, Sad Day For Puppets have gained an edge which means that they're now punching with considerable weight.

Opening track Sorrow Sorrow might not appear to have moved far beyond the sound of Unknown Colours. Pitch perfect vocal harmonies designed to melt the heart collide with guitars that chime with an almost festive feel. The squeal of feedback that ends the track might sound out of place but is a signifier of what is to come, as Such A Waste kicks off in frantic style. Full-on riffs propelled by cantering drums and grinding basslines evoke the spirit of Where You Been? era Dinosaur Jr, particularly with the tone of the solos. Even when the band calm down for the verses, the rumbling bass threatens to trample Anna Eklund's delicate vocals into the floor.

Eklund's style is plucked directly from the sound of '60s pop, and her breathy gentle vocals steal the limelight on several occasions on the album. Those in search of a more contemporary reference point need look no further than Lauren Laverne. On Shadows in particular you can hear the ghost of Get In era Kenickie applying its mascara quite clearly.

For all of Eklund's perfect-pop vocals, Pale Silver & Shiny Gold is a much harder record than the band's debut. The brooding noise of Anna Says II is genuinely creepy with Eklund echoing within the confined space of brutal bass and relentless drums. Monster & The Beast meanwhile starts off like Oasis' Slide Away, but quickly develops into a hazy shoegaze anthem complete with flute, washes of guitar noise, and Eklund's ethereal voice majestically soaring above the noise.

There are gems all over the album - Beads might sound like a throwaway folk song, but there's something lurking in the heart of this dainty waltzing lullaby - and it has teeth. Fuzzy Feather kicks off like a Rolling Stones tune, and develops into a sugar-coated garage-punk song. Listeners of a certain vintage will be reminded of the likes of Veruca Salt, Tiny Monroe, and perhaps The Primitives.

The album finishes up with the two ballads First Time and Tingle In My Hand; both are affecting and spectral, flooding from the speakers like a drowsy mist. They might not be the most immediate songs on the album, but they're certainly the most beautiful.

With Pale Silver & Shiny Gold, Sad Day for Puppets have not just changed their musical outlook but kicked the myth of the difficult second album squarely in the trousers as well.