Exploring the theme of love across all 11 tracks, Love Is A Landmine is an emotional rollercoaster.
You know that friend you haven’t seen in a long time and finally meet again? Love Is A Landmine feels like that friend. I Know Leopard lets you sink into its debut LP with a cosy and familiar musicality that ranges from the grand, neo-retro wonders of ‘Mums and Dads of Satanists’, to the synth-based grooves of ‘All That She Cared About’. This makes for an incredibly listenable album, that makes you feel like it’s 1981 again or maybe 1982, somewhere in there.
What gives the LP a bittersweet touch is that underneath its welcoming sound, it’s an emotionally beleaguered rollercoaster. The lyrics act as a direct conduit to thoughts about love and the and tribulations of their storyteller. Look at the song ‘Seventy Lies’; its chorus is its beating heart, proclaiming “I want to be what you want, I want to be what I’m not” – a saddening look at how we aim for perfection with love.
The song ‘Heather’ is another example – “You can call me when you get your shit together, you can’t play your games with me forever”. Welcoming and smart, Love Is A Landmine is a great calling card for I Know Leopard.
9.0
