The Boy Least Likely To Albums (3)
'The Law of the Playground'
Release Date 4/14/2009
Tracks 13
Label +1
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
That dreaded second album. Do you try to recapture the sound and feeling of the first record, which almost never works, or do you try to move ahead to something entirely new? The Boy Least Likely To take the former route on their sophomore album, The Law of the Playground, and for the most part it works out pretty well. It doesn't reach the same giddy heights as their debut, The Best Party Ever, but that would have been a lot to ask. That record's wonderfully innocent blend of indie pop sweetness, child-like wonder, low-key fun, and inspired songwriting isn't the sort of thing that can be easily replicated, and the two best songs, "Hugging My Grudge" and "Be Gentle with Me," were the kind of songs bands are lucky to write once, much less top. That being said, the Boy give it their best shot here, and the best two songs, the melancholy "A Balloon on a Broken String" and the ultra-bouncy "When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade," are very good pop tunes indeed. Wisely, the duo of Jof Owen (lead vocals) and Peter Hobbs (most instruments) retains the aspects that worked best on the debut, like their wide-eyed lyrical slant, the use of cute instruments like banjos and vintage synths, and the simple but almost maddeningly catchy melodies. They also add loads of friends helping out on various instruments and vocals (including actress Rashida Jones, who had appeared in the video for "Be Gentle with Me") to help bolster the record's sound. Which leads us to the main problem. The homemade, two guys and a couple friends approach has changed to two guys and a ton of people recording in a fancy studio, and it shows. The album falls just on the far side of slick, and a few of the questionably twee songs like "Stringing Up Conkers" or "Every Goliath Has Its David," which would have sounded cute and charming before, now sound overcooked and cloyingly sugary. A little less studio craft would have improved The Law of the Playground quite measurably and possibly put it on the same level as Best Party, since the songcraft and performances are nearly equal. Maybe next time out the two will get back to the simplicity that made them so appealing to begin with, and the resulting album won't have the faint tinge of disappointment that The Law of the Playground has. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
'Fight the Power'
Release Date 3/9/2009
Tracks 13
Label Too Young To Die
See Album Tracklist and Review
'The Best Party Ever'
Release Date 7/19/2005
Tracks 12
Label Rough Trade
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The Boy Least Likely To is just about the sweetest, twee-est band to come down the pipe since Up with People. The ultra-cute and peppy sound of their debut album, The Best Party Ever, which is housed in a cover that looks like it was rejected as too sweet for their fan base by the demons who produce Barney, sounds as if it could be the worst nightmare of long-haired rockers and dour indie types alike. If the banjos won't get them, maybe the glockenspiel, clippity-clop percussion sounds, glee club handclaps, or too-sensitive-for-Pepsodent lyrics will. Certainly the flutes and cheesy synths that pop up like snipers will leave few rockers standing. And there is no doubt at all that the ghosts of Talulah Gosh, early Pastels, and Television Personalities are not the first that a self-respecting musicologist would conjure up at a name-checking séance. Of course, if you are able to cast aside any need for your music to be important or weighty, and the aforementioned bands sound like your idea of a good time, then the Boy Least Likely To will likely be your idea of the soundtrack to the best party ever. From the transcendentally sweet and light opening notes of "Be Gentle to Me," The Best Party Ever is an unremitting ramble through a springtime garden, hand in hand with the sound of innocence and cloaked in gentle melancholy. There isn't a single gray shade in their sonic paint box, and even though many of the songs' lyrics deal with intimate fears and low levels of sadness, the overall skies are sunny and clear. Everything on the record works, from the clear and simple vocals and vocal harmonies and the toy town instrumentation, to the songwriting that both refers to past sunshine pop, indie pop, and just plain pop tunes but puts its own very now slant on them. "Hugging My Grudge" is the moment of genius that almost, but not quite, towers over the record. Unspooling like a follow-up to "Everybody's Talking," the song's embrace of sadness and failure is sad, but the radiant harmonies and bubbling synths lift the song out of the murk and give the listener a fragile hope that may fade once the song is over, but, hey, that's what the repeat button is for. The Best Party Ever is a low-key work of peaceful beauty unrivaled by anything in 2006, except maybe Jim Noir's Tower of Love. The two records share a wide-eyed simplicity and bedroom grandeur that just doesn't come along too often, and if you believe in the power of indie pop music to fill your life and heart with untrammeled joy, these are two records that will bolster that belief and send you out into the cold streets with a smile on your soul. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
