Album Review: So This Is Goodbye by Junior Boys

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.

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Like the old boy who spends his time moaning into a webcam and posting the resulting films on YouTube, Junior Boys get nothing but love from the online community, and nothing but blank stares from the rest of the world. So This Is Goodbye is a pretty, if sterile, album that sees them, like so many others, deciding whether to be an electro-based band or an indie-based band. They try to do both, usually at the same time, which has them sounding at times like Mercury Rev attempting to reinvent themselves as Parisian-techno gurus.

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When Hamilton, Ontario, duo Junior Boys released their debut album, Last Exit, in 2004, they became the vanguard of electro-pop. Lauded as an unprecedented meeting of Timbaland’s cosmic funk and David Sylvian’s synth elegance by more than a few critics, Junior Boys - whose only warning shots were a couple of EPs on the fledgling KIN label - were one of the year’s best zero-to-hero stories. Riding their success to a record deal with indie powerhouse Domino Records, Junior Boys now offer up their second helping, So This Is Goodbye.

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