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Average: 4.5 (76 ratings)
- Date Released: September 12, 2006
- Genre: Electronic
- Style: Indie Pop
- Label: Domino Recording Co
Wide-open beatscapes for the wee small hours.
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We Say...
In mid 2006, house music began nudging up to the mainstream again. In the UK, artsy indie boys Hot Chip took the throbbing, multi-coloured pop of The Warning all the way to the shortlist of the year's Mercury Music Prize. Makeshift Feelgood, the long-awaited second album from veteran geezer DJs X-Press 2, was a joyful rush of giddy nu-Balearica and guest vocalists.
The second album from Canada's Junior Boys more quietly reboots house for the mid '00s. Yes, Frank Sinatra is in the mix, on a gorgeously ambient, aching version of 1959's "When No One Cares." "In the Morning" is another winner, a muscular groove built around panting gasps and seductive vocals. But that's about as leftfield as So This Is Goodbye gets: these are mostly tasteful, wide-open beatscapes that skirt perilously close to chill-out. And coffee-table electronica can sound even more jaded — if less interesting — than Ol' Blue Eyes slumped at a bar in the wee small hours. -
They Say...
So This Is Goodbye involves no input and no apparent residual fingerprints from original member Johnny Dark. On their second album, Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus depart completely from 2-step and late-'90s Timbaland twitter, polishing their sound to such an extent that absolutely no detectable scuffs are left. Improbably enough, the thematic springboard for the album appears to be "When No One Cares," a Frank Sinatra cover that flickers and hisses like a malfunctioning neon sign. Greenspan, whose vocal ability has improved remarkably, puts a typically fragile spin on the Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen composition, though you can picture him on the brink of cracking up at the thought of this insufferable, pitiful character -- this underscores a semi-subliminal undercurrent of self-deprecation that carries through most of the album. Fragments of lyrics from the song inspire "Count Souvenirs" and "Like a Child," two other cases where Greenspan croons as if he were leaning against a bank of synthesizers, tie undone and hair disheveled, on-stage at the Sands' Copa Room. (Rest assured, Taco this ain't.) Over half the album consists of slowly unfurling material that projects a cool sense of comfort, as if Chicago house pioneers Larry Heard and Frankie Knuckles were brought in to transform jubilant Italo-disco and foppish synth pop into downcast club tracks and creeping torch songs. The placid grace of the album is interrupted only by the crunchy snap of "In the Morning" -- the only song that breaks a sweat -- which makes like a non-album single plopped in the middle of the album for no good reason (à la those old CD issues of the XTC catalog that slapped the bonus tracks in the middle, rather than at the end). Otherwise, this is a make-out album destined to be played most often by loners who, for whatever reason (a crippling breakup, a fear of human contact, the snowman melted, etc.), are only able to commit the act in their minds.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
Double Shadow |
4:22 |  |
| 02. | |
The Equalizer |
4:57 | |
| 03. | |
First Time |
5:26 | |
| 04. | |
Count Souvenirs |
4:45 | |
| 05. | |
In the Morning |
4:42 | |
| 06. | |
So This Is Goodbye |
5:19 | |
| 07. | |
Like a Child |
6:06 | |
| 08. | |
Caught in a Wave |
3:39 | |
| 09. | |
When No One Cares |
3:49 | |
| 10. | |
FM |
5:53 | |
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Credits
- David Levy - Clarinet // David Levy - Flute // David Levy - Saxophone // Andi Toma - Engineer // Nilesh "Nilz" Patel - Mastering // Jacqui Oakley - Design // Jacqui Oakley - Illustrations
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