Squee squee squee, I thought these guys would never release a sophomore record. I have been eating my fucking toes off waiting for a follow-up from this LOVELY, positively DELIGHTFUL band. Feel-good big fat juicy pop centered on heavy rollicky piano and super-cute lyrics straight from the playground. These guys have scored junior high, period. How these kids continue to set songs of social strife and first-time heartbreak to happy shiny melodies continues to astound me. Since their debut release they have acquired... some production. The best addition: bright ostentatious synth ganked from the Main Street Electrical Parade, zig-zagging all over their big punchy catchy piano pop riffs.

I have trouble RIYLing this band. Guster? The Mountain Goats? Casper & the Cookies? David Bowie fucking off? Look, these guys routinely cover “I Love You Always Forever” and “It’s a Beautiful Life” live. Listening to this record is so much like listening to Twin Cinema for the first time, I can’t even tell you. Alternately: the scene in Velvet Goldmine when Christian Bale is jumping up and down and gesturing wildly at his living room telly. That Grant Lee Buffalo song? Oh yeah, that’s it.

try: 1, 3, 10, 11
no FCCs

*1. galloping piano highway pop. vocals bust in like a cross between the born ruffians and of montreal. disneyana synth zooms over the last verse. the only discernible lyrics in the whole track are: ‘we first met in the summer of my 22nd year.’ nice going, boys.
2. zany fast-flying synth and a killer push line. oh, this is a fun track. pop punk borrowings (bowling for soup comes to mind), especially in the vocals. this sounds like a carnival midway at night.
*3. midtempo mellow light-touch death cab opener. big poppy sing-along chorus. omg, with glottal stops. enormous piano. a few false endings. if this song doesn’t make you grin like an idiot, you should slap yourself.
4. slow piano balladry, cutesy heartbeat drums. jangly cymbals & bells. nice discordant segues. goes for grand funk broadway gold in the second half.
5. big fat fanfarey piano rollicker. super strutty. killer breaks and swells. this song sounds like chicago to me. okay, that or the lights they put around the mirrors in dressing rooms. ‘don’t look at me like another lost soul.’
6. hella mountain goats, hella they might be giants. super-fast plink piano and rumbling drums. percussive. sweeping and epic second half, full of full-chorus vocals and time changes.
7. pedal-on clair-de-luney piano and fuzzy vocals. hilarious sky-high falsetto. sway-inducing bass and tambourine kick in for the second verse.
8. plinky piano. at :25, blasts into upbeat kick-it-up drums and bright riffy piano that doubles the vocals. zoomy synth. nice vocal-centric bridge.
9. 1 min track. rapid cymbal tapping and slightly unhinged ambient piano. gets grandiose. play with the next track or don’t play at all.
*10. big fourth of july synth. nostalgic riproaring fuzz pop chorus. huge, huge sound. glitchy death cab beat dominates the verses. (lead in with #9 if you like)
*11. staccato piano and mock-gruff walking-bass rolls (also on piano). jump swing, sorta. happy jaunty call-back chorus. handclaps. straight-up saloon piano solo. ‘everybody else is doing it.’
12. high pedal piano backdrop. moves into a great laid-back dancehall groove. there’s a definite imaginary kickline going on here. blatty brass slide-dives in for the last minute or so. actually approaches... glam.