Junior Boys - It’s All True

It’s All True
(Domino)

This fourth album from Canadian production duo Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus is an elegant and modern-sounding collection, but it doesn’t make extensive efforts to disguise an array of less fashionable influences, conscious or otherwise. The opening ‘Itchy Fingers’, for example, merges the urbane synthetic sounds of electronic with a nu-soul vocal reminiscent of ABC’s Martin Fry, and the following ‘Playtime’ is a resolutely mellow, almost hypnotic affair with more than a hint of ‘Fastlove’-era George Michael. Although things pick up late in the day with the falsetto-voiced electro strut of ‘Second Chance’, and instrumental Balearic beat of ‘Kick the Can’, these songs are all firm growers: unselfconscious in their soothing repetition and just as equally suited to background listening or firm concentration.