:: Track Listing

1. More Than Real
2. Bellona
3. High Come Down
4. Last Exit
5. Neon Rider
6. Birthday
7. Under the Sun
8. Three Words
9. Teach Me How to Fight
10. When I'm Not Around

Bonus Disc:
1. Unbirthday
2. The Last Exit (Fennesz Mix)
3. Birthday (Manitoba Mix)
4. A Certain Association


:: Record Review

Junior Boys

Last Exit Reissue
(KIN/Domino; 2003/2004)

Rating: 87%
Combined Rating: 85%


So, I mean, what the hell, right? We already reviewed this.

But (1) it’s fantastic, and (2) there are now new songs (sort of).

Last Exit was originally released by KIN Records (on their website they have two links: “Junior Boys” and “other artists;" wonder who the boss is there?). The icy-cool Hamilton, Ontario synth poppers gained enough quick acclaim for powerhouse Domino Records to take notice and, subsequently, The Last Exit was reissued with a bonus disc for added value. If you’re a dedicated fan, you already have these new songs: “Unbirthday” and “The Last Exit (Fennesz Mix)” are on the 2003 KIN release The Last Exit EP, and “Birthday (Manitoba Mix)” and “A Certain Association” are taken from the High Come Down EP. If you’re new, like me, then you’re like “Whoa! NEW MANITOBA REMIX!!” You then caps-lock everything for an hour on AIM.

With good reason: it’s awesome. Snaith strips away the layers of synth and deadens the whispery quality of the original. “Birthday” gets chunked-up with some junk-heap wind chimes and heavy bass kicks. Whirring, high-pitched squeals and warbling, lapping keys hover delicately under Greenspan’s falsetto and float it almost to the forefront of the mix. The vocals evoke an astonishing soulful quality simply on the merits of the mixdown. Snaith’s timing and arrangements are deliberate and witty, making the absolute most of the subtle streams of emotion that emit from Greenspan’s restrained invective. Value added.

The Fennesz Mix of “The Last Exit” begins with the usual arguably-melodic distortions and buzzes. Stuttering synths soar overhead before a blanket of heavier distortion soon smothers them. This obstruction quickly slips off and leaves behind the original buzz-and-hum. The binge-and-purge of distortion/synth floods in again, but this time morphs into a gorgeous melodic progression, filling your earspace with bassed-up trebles and bottomless basslines so the entire mix confuses your equalizer. The sound glows, and you hardly care that you can’t make out a damn word Greenspan says.

Opener “Unbirthday” and closer “A Certain Association” are little more than atmospheric bookends. “Unbirthday” clunks along on static, a pitched low end, and some resonating percussion while “A Certain Association” radiates ambient drone pulses with melodic textures and some keyed digi-flourishes near the end. Neither are (nor purport to be) anything spectacular, but they serve as a great aperitif/digestif combo to the main course. If you’ve been sitting on picking up Last Exit, now’s the time to get up.

Editor's Note: See Amir Karim-Nezar’s quite-agreeable review of the original Last Exit release here.

Aaron Newell :: 27 October 2004 |