release date: Apr. 12, 2006
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Johan Duncansson, Martin Larsson
label: Labrador - nationality: Sweden
Track highlights: 2. "Pet Grief" - 3. "A Window" - 4. "I Wanted You to Feel the Same" (Live on WFUV) - 6. "The Worst Taste in Music" (4 / 5) - 8. "What Will Give?" - 10. "Sleeping In" (4 / 5) - 11. "Tell"
[ full album playlist ]
2nd studio album by The Radio Dept. is like the debut released by Labrador Records and produced by Duncanson and Larsson. The band members are now the trio which has become synonymous with The Radio Dept.: Johan Duncanson playing keyboards, guitars, and on lead vocal, Martin Larsson on guitars, keyboards, and bass, and with Daniel Tjäder on keyboards.
Stylistically, the album follows closely in the footsteps of their fine debut Lesser Matters (Feb. 2003), and despite that this is not a huge step in new directions, it's a pretty nice and decent follow-up into subtle indie pop / dream pop with less focus on distorted guitars and vocals and thus less noise pop-oriented. It also comes out as more consciously wider produced material indicating a move away from their previously lo-fi recorded releases but without losing the noise-pop connection.
Compared to the fine debut this seems more of a whole but it generally lacks higher level of quality compositions, although, I still enjoy the laid back feel of it.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]
