So This Is Goodbye - Junior Boys

So This Is Goodbye

Junior Boys
Domino Records.

SCQ Rating: 78%

From the moment I heard ‘In the Morning’ on their myspace page in the heat of August, I felt that Junior Boys were about to explode. The song was too instantaneous, too full of energy to simply fade alongside your average trend-setters. The LP dropped nearly two months later and my initial impression has yet to find resolve; is this sophomore the blow-up hinted at by overeager critics and one icebreaking single?

Not quite. So This Is Goodbye is a logical follow-up to Last Exit, which given the departure of Johnny Dark is less bass-heavy and ultimately less spontaneous. Greenspan has fully embraced his coolly, emotive crooning as heard above the sparse beats of ‘First Time’ or the retro-magic of ‘Count Souvenirs’. He even covers Sinatra, the croon-master himself, on ‘When No One Cares’ and while it’s a pretty drab rendition, you can’t blame the vocals. Fact is, So This Is Goodbye finds the sound they arguably perfected on Last Exit streamlined; vocals are mixed front and center, atmospherics are waved off like artificial rainclouds. As someone who loves Last Exit in part because of its cloudiness, I can still appreciate its eradication. These direct compositions may lack the unassuming hesitation that rendered their debut so breathtaking, but their newfound confidence has nothing to hide. So This Is Goodbye wastes no time showcasing excellent songwriting with ‘Double Shadow’ and ‘The Equalizer’, two head-nodding anthems that should slide the Junior Boys closer to mainstream audiences.

A young band can’t ask for much more from a sophomore album: it stripteases its layers for clarity yet reinforces their trademarked sound. So This Is Goodbye might not be the album to throw Junior Boys into the mainstream but it’s an ideal stand-in that doesn’t deter their course or blow their load. As the disc closes on the subdued romance of ‘FM’, I can’t deny believing their next release will be the catalyst for a full-blown Junior Boys explosion.