It's All True

After eight-plus years of releasing music, Junior Boys demonstrate handily with It's All True that they remain fresh, luminous, and highly relevant.

It's All True joyfully returns to the shimmering electronica of old. [Aug. 2011, p. 98]

It's All True is exactly what mature dance pop should sound like in 2011.

Their latest was recorded after returning from an extended stay in Shanghai, and while its subtle melding of icy electronica with slick 80s R&B isn't a radical sonic departure, there's a definite sense of a band buffing what they do until it sparkles, and this time, the melodies genuinely engage you.

It's All True plays with its own honesty as perfectly as it does your expectations.

Artists who operate within a distinct or limited musical template can risk getting stuck in a creative rut, but on this evidence Junior Boys are just too damned good at this game for any such risk.

Ontario's Junior Boys have been charming us with their soulful brand of electro-pop for a good few years now, but they've never sounded as much fun as they do on new album It's All True.

All the same basic elements--classic synth leads, intricately pulsing rhythms and pop vocal stylings--are back again for It's All True, but for this album the screen is completely gone, and Junior Boys are as front and center as they've ever been.

Four albums in, the music continues to embellish and luckily, entertain for Junior Boys. Even though It's All True might not be the resounding return of earlier albums, the transitions the duo has embarked on have found them crafting sound into brand new revelations.

A couple of tame moments should have hit the cutting room floor, but this is otherwise flawless. [Jul 2011, p.88]

For all the sonic shimmer, not much exposure is needed to realize that the album concerns an embittering relationship.

Fortunately, It's All True is every bit as great as their early releases promised.

The melodies are a bit more major key, but if you listen closely, the lyrics are as gloomy as ever (in a good way).

It's All True still has the most in common with its predecessor: the clean production, the attention to detail, the instrumental experimentation (those Eastern flourishes on the first two tracks are strangely easy to miss like the live instruments on Begone) and careful arrangements are all traits that have been carried forward, but many of those (if not all) are core ingredients in what makes up the music of Junior Boys, and they'll likely feature on their future releases for many years to come.

Greenspan's singing is the best it's ever been on It's All True, proving the band's mixing desk skills aren't the only thing that's matured over the past eight years.

By no means is It's All True a masterpiece; the duo don't stick their necks out enough to entertain that notion. But by creating a palpable tension between smart songwriting and their knack for texture, Junior Boys have pulled a legacy back from the brink of indifference.

It's All True still doesn't have the inclusive warmth of similar acts like Hot Chip or Passion Pit. But for those of us who've been rooting for them, it's nice to see the Junior Boys get a little hedonistic within their grayscale world.

Spooky and memorable, this is one lustrous wonder.

At 52 similar-sounding minutes, It's All True is a bit of a robust meal to digest all in one sitting but, served in moderate portions, it's irresistibly tasty. Junior Boys: still itchy after all these years.

It's All True runs the risk of feeling samey, but the album never gets sleepy, which should settle any debate over its function in the boudoir.

It's ruling mood of detachment might appeal more to listeners who never went out in the first place and who prefer to experience physical release and emotional engagement through the filer of files, screens and headphones instead. [Jul 2011, p.50]

Scratch beneath the surface sheen of It's All True and all kinds of depths emerge.

At its best, It's All True lives up to Junior Boys' past work, but it's the spottiest album of their career, the first one with real peaks and valleys.

Since 2004's Last Exit, Junior Boys' main man Jeremy Greenspan has couched his plaintive voice in various strains of modern electronic music, flitting between 2-step and synth-pop, with diminishing returns.

Canadian electro duo's dreamy fourth album. [Aug. 2011, p. 120]

The ideas here don't seem to hold together quite as well. [Jul 2011, p.86]

It's All True, although slightly patchy, has a generous handful of these moments of inspiration.

It's All Real continues along the same lines: lush production, low-key bleeps and bloops, a hushed, lovelorn 2am ambience.