It's All True... and bloody works!

All right, I'm long overdue in telling you all about one of the - unexpectedly - best albums I've bought this summer. Subject is Junior Boys' fourth full-length, titled It's All True. Junior Boys' quality template remains pretty unchanged, but if it ain't broke, you know, there's no need to fix it. And on It's All True, the Canadians have proved that the well of slick, funky, indie-electro topped by Jeremy Greenspan's smooth voice isn't empty yet.


It all kicks off with the delirious 'Itchy Fingers', which is pretty fast paced compared to the duo's previous work, but nonetheless highly catchy. Classic mellowness however kicks in already by second cut, the beautiful 'Playtime', which is in the mold of a tune like 'When No One Cares' from So This Is Goodbye, two albums back (I'm sorry, I still haven't gotten around to hearing Begone Dull Care, the band's third album, thus this post will be devoid of references to that album...), and a bold tune to move all the way up to the second spot. Greenspan generally shines on this album, and on a tune like this in particular.


There's a general warmness to this album, much more so than to the aforementioned So This Is Goodbye, which is at times startlingly frigid. There's a bit more funk, a bit less sterility to this album. A tune like standout 'Banana Ripple' pretty obviously, but also cuts like 'You'll Improve Me' or 'Second Chance' are lusciously swag. A tune like 'The Reservoir' on the other hand, is all icy, staccato synthesizers and inimical beats, and 'Kick The Can' is as industrial as it gets.


Finishing off in style with a brilliant closing pair, consisting of the beautiful 'ep' and the aforementioned, epic and ridiculously funky 'Banana Ripple', while sticking firmly to their guns, Junior Boys have proven that their tight and classy electronica still has raison d'être in the otherwise hazy and fashionably sloppy indie world of 2011. Which is reassuring.