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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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So This Is Goodbye
by Junior Boys
This is the second album for the acclaimed Canadian electronica outfit led by Jeremy Greenspan.
| LABEL: |
Domino |
| RELEASE DATE: |
12 September 2006 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Electronic |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Stylus Magazine
Where Last Exit was indebted to the clubbier side of dance pop--with its tendency to wind songs around Dark’s close-clipped beats--So This Is Goodbye is a post-aught pop record first and foremost, an elegant, spacious collection of flash-frozen R&B and soft disco laments.
91
The Onion (A.V. Club)
These songs are complicated robots.
90
Neumu.net
The icy qualities of Last Exit's synths are retained, but the old minimalism is certainly gone, and enough real warmth buoys these productions that songcraft actually develops.
90
musicOMH.com
One moment I feel like I am listening to Underworld's frantic blast combined with the Blue Nile's slowly evolving elegance, the next it could be The Pet Shop Boys' sailing in the slip stream of Depeche Mode. I can't nail down the sound beyond the fact that it's breathtaking.
90
Pitchfork
So This Is Goodbye isn't just an improbable notch above 2004's Last Exit-- it's also among the best records you'll hear all year.
90
Drawer B
This is dance music with unquestionable soul.
88
The Phoenix
You can’t ask for much more from a sophomore album.
88
Filter
As on 2004's Last Exit, their arrangements are deftly drawn, precisely executed and drenched in pretense-free pop. [#22, p.96]
83
cokemachineglow
While This is Goodbye does suffer, like Last Exit, from being a little too consistent (there’s very little variation in tempo or arrangement, or theme for that matter), it's as cohesive a listening experience as almost any album I’ve heard this year.
83
Almost Cool
Even more engaging than their debut, So This Is Goodbye is another amazing album from Junior Boys, and one of the better releases of the year.
80
Lost At Sea
Furnished with seductive melodies, dry beats, translucent tonality and a variety of bouncing electronic arpeggios, So This Is Goodbye is filled with pure synth-pop oxygen.
80
PopMatters
So This is Goodbye is even more measured and meticulous than Last Exit, but so skilled a songwriting team Greenspan and Didemus have become, that every carefully-planned note packs a wallop, the starkness continuing to masterfully mask some of the most soulful Canadian music to come out in years.
80
All Music Guide
Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus depart completely from 2-step and late-'90s Timbaland twitter, polishing their sound to such an extent that absolutely no detectable scuffs are left.
80
Urb
Electronic pop rarely sounds this beautiful and human. [Sep 2006, p.136]
80
Billboard
This release is comparable to 2004's stunning "Last Exit" in that every song has its own merits yet feels part of a greater whole.
80
Q Magazine
Here Greenspan takes a more direct approach, showcasing his feel for melody and melancholy to brilliant effect. [Oct 2006, p.125]
80
Prefix Magazine
So This Is Goodbye displays an impressive maturation on the part of Junior Boys leading man Jamie Greenspan.
80
Vibe
The Boys make earnest, delicate and occasionally gloomy synth-pop, but they want the pain to be danceable. [Nov 2006, p.161]
80
Tiny Mix Tapes
In the end, Junior Boys' improved skills at constructing pop songs within their fantastic sonic template is more than enough to make So This Is Goodbye one of my favorite releases of 2006 so far.
80
Dusted Magazine
The results may not be as jarring as its predecessor - the excitement of their original experimentation is gone - but ultimately they’re more satisfying, indicative of a duo much more comfortable with their vision.
75
Los Angeles Times
In the 1980s, artists such as Bronski Beat and David Sylvian used a similar sonic palette. But there's a distance to Greenspan's perfectly constructed grooves and well-modulated lyrics that falls somewhere between ironic and mournful.
70
Uncut
It's a beautiful record. [Oct 2006, p.112]
70
BBC collective
Heartfelt but sometimes overly polite.
70
Village Voice
Junior Boys' brand of synthpop can't help sounding rooted in the '80s, and with Scritti Politti and thePet Shop Boys recently resurfacing to scratch the same itch, there may be no burning need for what Manitobans Jeremy Greenspan and Matthew Didemus do. Which doesn't mean they don't do it well.
68
ShakingThrough.net
The Boys are still presenting themselves as an emotionally sensitive duo, but the smoothness pulls the urgency out of some of their problems.
60
Under The Radar
So This is Goodbye often proves too single-mindedly hip and aloof for it’s own good. [#15]
60
Mojo
Much will be familiar to JBs devotees... but this time their MOR predilections are more pronounced. [Oct 2006, p.100]
60
Drowned In Sound
So This is Goodbye is the perfect example of how aiming for perfection in music can end in alienation.
60
The Guardian
A pretty, if sterile, album.
60
Rolling Stone
There are snoozers like the title track... but there are also pretty, narcotically alluring cuts like "FM." [21 Sep 2006, p.86]
60
Playlouder
The sonic palette here is just so relentlessly perfect that, for me, it becomes constricting and cloying.
30
Spin
Greenspan turns the pathos of 2004's Last Exit into nearly intolerable bathos, with the beats now noticeably dragging. [Oct 2006, p.98]
The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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