Junior Boys
Big Black Coat (City Slang)
It’s been more than a decade since Hamilton, Ontario’s Junior Boys positioned themselves as indietronica icons with their 2004 debut album Last Exit.
Now a little bit older and a little bit wiser, the Boys seem to be having the time of their life on their latest album Big Black Coat.
Five albums into their career, it’s clear Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus feel comfortable in their musical skin. As a result, there’s a self-awareness to Big Black Coat that, arguably, may have been absent previously. They’re not taking themselves too seriously, and the tracks benefit from that sense of play. They just want you to dance, baby!
Case in point, lead-off single “Over It” – with it’s ridiculously pitch-shifted baritone vocals and pulsing synth-pop – is as fun a song as Junior Boys has ever recorded.
“Baby Give Up On It” is another party-starter with shades of disco, ‘80s techno and electrofunk. Meanwhile, the bananas cover of “What You Would Do for Love” is almost unrecognizable as the Bobby Caldwell classic.
The sexiness is still there, of course. Their trademark breathy vocals and smooth synths make Big Black Coat fuckable from start to finish. But in the morning, the Boys will have you grinning from ear to ear.
Rating: ★★★★1/2
