Junior Boys : Begone Dull Care

2009 album from the Canadian duo of Jeremy Greenspan and Matthew Didemus, professionally known as Junior Boys. This is the band's third album, following the critical and commercial successes of Last Exit (2004) and So This Is Goodbye (2006). On Begone Dull Care, there isn't a single sound emitted that feels out of place or like an afterthought. There is a measured restraint that's rarely employed in modern Pop music and it's the precision and restraint in the arrangements that only serve to magnify what is there. And what is there is exceptional... from the post-industrial stomp of opener 'Parallel Lines' to the soothing romanticism of 'What It's For,' which brings the album to an achingly soft close. Lead single, 'Hazel' could well be described as 'Sign Of The Times' re-imagined as an effervescent song of romantic yearning instead of the original's dark reflection of Reagan's Urban America.