Born into a parallel universe where Vince Clarke holds status over Brian Wilson, Ontario's Junior Boys are enthralled with the 80s. Not the turn-of-the-decade punk-funk 80s that was de riguer last year, but the era 1981-83 when pale white British boys stormed America with their one-fingered keyboard techniques and daft haircuts.
They claim to be influenced by Timbaland, Tears For Fears, 2-step, the Beach Boys and Basic Channel. Of these only Roland Olazabal and Curt Smith are really detectable in their sound. In fact, it's surprising they left New Order off the list, because that's who they most resemble - particularly that interim period after Ian Curtis killed himself and the stunned trio couldn't decide whether Hooky or Bernard should take over lead vocals.
That's not to say it's pastiche. Like last year's stunning "Again" by Colder, Junior Boys are working from a futurist blueprint - it's just that it was also forward-looking in the days of Gorbachev and Reagan. But, these days, starting out from 1983 is always going to be a better proposition than 1967 or 1976, as there's still something original left to stay. In comparison, watching four East London blokes playing guitars and attempting to kill themselves with hard drugs is a bit like listening to your Granddad talk bout the war. All very interesting and that, but where's the relevance?
And head boy Jeremy Greenspan's songwriting certainly has nothing in common with anything so soiled or as vulgar as rock 'n' roll. This is music that sounds like it was plotted by sad psychics graduates in lab coats. It's clean, melancholic and sterile (in a totally non-derogatory sense) - full of gently undulating rhythms and melodic pulses.
Greenspan half-sings and half-talks his way through the ten tracks on show, and if there's any real complaint it's that the tempo never really changes. About 30 minutes in you wish a wave of organic sound would engulf their robotic soul and shake it up a bit. Instead, he simply shrugs his shoulders sings, "You've gone and left me on my birthday, you've gone and left me all alone..."
Nevertheless, there is more than promise here. It's electro without being so crude as electroclash and melancholic without feeling cold (melancholica anyone?). A proper pop album then, steeped in an era when that word still meant something more than dollar signs.
