Rating: 7.75

I only kinda liked Junior Boys first album, Last Exit. It seemed too dancey; clangy and disjointed, lacking cohesiveness and direction. So I passed it on to a couple of friends whom I knew would enjoy it and then basically wrote it off, only to listen to it a time or two more.

When their new album, So This Is Goodbye, was released I was uninterested until I heard a track or two on KEXP 90.3. Then their new double A-side, In The Morning, offered more tasty bits with the “In The Morning” and “The Equalizer” tracks, their remixes and an additional track, “So Sleep (A)”. House plays a much more prominent role here, but doesn’t come off as cheesy or unintelligent, as much of the house style of electronic music does.

Alex Smoke re-orchestrates “In The Morning” into a stripped down version, highlighting the vocals amidst more pronounced and sparse cuts and slips. It’s a good track, in and of itself, even without the original track to compare it against. Morgan Geist completely makes over “The Equalizer” with dance-floor buzz laden with gaudy synthesizers. “So Sleep (A)” is reminiscent of really good 80’s new wave pop with a good dose of dingy, neat bass beats as the backbone. It’s more ethereal and self-conscious than the other tracks on this EP. All in all, In The Morning is slightly sleek and provoking and can easily be the soundtrack to a drive around the city or a party amongst friends.

– Shrie Bradford