Junior Boys

Hamilton, ON duo Junior Boys came onto the scene with two obscure twelve-inch records that clicked because they sounded so crisp and catchy with tight hooks and a retro influenced electro pop aesthetic that was all the rage at the time. Their first full-length album, Last Exit, stunned critics and music fans alike with chopped up R&B rhythms and warm, flowing vocals from Jeremy Greenspan, taking the duo on tour and proving that they could work their magic to crowded clubs the world over. So This Is Goodbye is every bit as funky yet more delicate and softer than their previous work. There is a sadness and intimacy that, despite the grooving beats, is unavoidable, forcing one to confront emotion that isn’t normally associated with dance music. Arpeggiating blips and a simple, deep synth bass become the lullaby as Greenspan tenderly sings, "Yeah, you hold me, like a child.” So dramatic and elegant is "Like a Child,” it comes as no surprise that Greenspan collaborated with Morgan Geist on "Most of All.” Frank Sinatra’s "When No One Cares” is covered in an emo/electro manner that is reminiscent of Spandau Ballet gone pop-ambient for the new millennium. "In the Morning” is the obvious radio single on this album and if, rather when, it gets snapped up by top 40 radio, you’ll want to be able to laugh at the plebes for not clueing in sooner.

So This Is Goodbye is a record about travel sickness... I’m not the kind of person that has a travel bug, which is kind of ironic because I travel a lot because of the band now. One of the most important things to keep in mind when I’m writing music is the environment I’m in. I think it has a tremendous impact on my songwriting —the lyrics and even the music. There’s a lot of sort of Southern Ontario in my records in a weird way, even though I don’t think people can really identify that.

What is it about Hamilton that keeps you there? Hamilton’s a weird city. It’s a city but it’s not big enough to be a metropolis. It has all these turn of the century homes but then it also has the giant steel mills and a lot of highways through it and it’s a pretty ugly city in a lot of ways. I sort of like underdog cities that are forgotten about. Hamilton has that ghost town quality, and I like that, it makes it mine.