Junior Boys: So This Is Goodbye

Modern music can be difficult for a bass player. New bands that never took piano lessons excuse their inability to write songs by calling themselves "experimental" and talking about how they want to build music horizontally (i.e. with spacing and texture) instead of vertically (i.e. with chord changes). Additionally, hip-hop acts that want their records to "blow up" write beats that translate to the clubs and shitty stereos, where bass sounds muddy and unappealing. Between these two phenomena, bass lines are often either extremely boring or simply non-existant.

When the Junior Boys debuted in 2004, critics had a difficult time nailing them down. What is it about the Boys' sound that's so appealing? Are they Indie Dance? Dance Indie? Indie Pop? Post-Genre Theme Quaftar? Allow me to clarify: Last Exit is in a category of its own because it was the first electronic pop album that made extensive and high-quality use of the bottom end.

So This is Goodbye, the Junior Boys' sophomore effort, builds on the work of its predecessor without mimicking it. The strong bottom end hasn't left, but the Boys are more confident with their synths and shuffling drum beats, providing some compelling moments where they abandon the rich, headphone-friendly tones of their debut for a more computer-speaker-friendly style that will appeal to the legions of Postal Service devotees waiting for the next "Such Great Heights". With a solid balance between old and new, light and dark, hard and soft, So This is Goodbye will undoubtedly join the discussion for Album of the Year.

The first track, "Double Shadow", picks up where Last Exit left off, with the bass carrying the main weight of the track without being obvious about it, and with light synths and whispery vocals filling space and serving as icing on an extremely tasty cake. However, not content to become a mockery of itself, So This Is Goodbye moves quickly into new territory, offering more balance and variety than its predecessor. "First Time" is a welcome respite from the traditional Junior Boys style, with the bass taking a back seat and serving as the butter to the synth's bread. "Like a Child" reminds us that we're dealing with masters of spacing who reject the wall of sound and use absolutely no unnecessary effects.

The lyrics leave something to be desired. The words are not bad per se, but the melodies are metrical round holes into which the lyrics are shoved like square pegs (for an example of this in popular music, see Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" where she says "fruSTRAted"). It's a shame, because the lyrics are loud and clear enough to be understood, and the awkwardness will undoubtedly distract listeners from the excellent music playing underneath.

Metrical difficulties aside, The Junior Boys have managed to avoid the sophomore slump, producing an album that 1) embraces the strength of the debut without beating it into the ground and 2) moves gracefully into new territory without going through an agonizing and potentially jarring identity crisis. Bass players worldwide will rejoice.