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For a while now there's been an orthodoxy developing around the
music created in the early 1980s. The commonly held belief is that the
post-punk scratchy funk is where the real innovation took place; that
the sound of The Gang of Four and The Fire Engines broke
new ground.
Therefore its often claimed that the neon futurists who
produced the buoyant synth pop of the era are fit only for the
nostalgia circuit. Sure there is a certain inventiveness in those
post-punk bands but its not the whole story.Guitars do not
automatically bestow gravitas or soul and certainly not originality.
The Human League's Motown meets the autobahn pop or the
electronic vista of OMD were far more unique and groundbreaking.
Thankfully it sounds like Canadian duo Junior Boys share my view. This
is Goodbye takes those pioneering records and mixes their DNA with the
sounds of current club culture.
See this is a perfect kiss from a tainted lover. A dirty epic,
genetic engineering, a poison arrow. So This Is Goodbye is full of lyrical
spurts and urgent rhythms. A world of scorched hearts and club
wallsdripping with intent. Bass heavy, melancholy and beautiful.
Kraftwerk via Salford's Lads Club. House music with a heart. A
new order, a sign post to the future.
Junior Boys have created an electroplated tank of a record. A
spiky shape shifting mix of sculptured mercury and bruised beats. By
turns tender of reason and striking in sound. Jeremy Greenspan voice
glides across the grooves with the perfect grace of light at dawn.
Matthew Didemus has fashioned a series of stark, yearning soundscapes, full of light and space. The room in the backdrops is juxtaposed
against the stark dense maze of imagery. Greenspan lyrics can shift
from clipped impressionist snapshots to spiralling narrative within the
same verse.
If the Scissor Sisters make you put your hands in the
air, then Junior Boys make you wear your heart on your sleeve. One
moment I feel like I am listening to Underworld's frantic blast
combined with the Blue Nile's slowly evolving elegance, the next
it could be The Pet Shop Boys' sailing in the slip stream of
Depeche Mode. I can't nail down the sound beyond the fact that
it's breathtaking.
Junior Boys seem to conjure magic from the most basic of sounds.
They have stripped away much of the complex rhythms from their previous
LP Last Exit. Caught in a Wave unfurls from a static radio tone and a
high frequency circuit whine via a base line and drum kick that are
tighter than Bush and Blair. The rhythm track is so simple, a beat and
click, but so deep and hypnotic. The bass lines are tense and
heavyweight throughout. In The Morning welds one to a glittering melody
line and a huge pitch bent synth riff. When No One Cares, takes a
Frank Sinatra standard and spins it out into deep space. FM
dissolves in fleeting bass notes and a sparkling starlight synth
line.
Count Souvenirs is Soft Cell's Memorabilia written by
Douglas Coupland and remixed by Gene Farris. Double Shadow is
the dub house of Vladislav Delay's Lumomo project with
lyrics replacing the vocal snippets. There is a energy, a desire that
burns through the speakers. This record should be played loud and
digested slowly. I feel love.
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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees
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