The Boy Least Likely To – The Best Party Ever
(Too Young To Die)

Cute is a dangerous thing. If you’re a cutesy teenage actor, you’re doomed to end up chasing tail in teen comedies… if you’re lucky, you might graduate to abad horror movie. If you’re a comedian, you can milkit Adam Sander style to big bucks, but may never be taken seriously again.

If you’re a musician though, it can be a death knell… If you want to be childish, you’re expected to either give it some edge – like the Unicorns do, or make your lullaby style depressing – like the Eels. But once in a while, a band comes along that can make unapologetic fuzzy wuzzy music that’s not thoroughly embarrassing.

UK’s The Boy Least Likely To are such a band. Childlike whimsiness abounds throughout this record, through harmonicas, recorders, xylophone, banjos, and the kind of acoustic strumming you expect from a kindergarten teacher, as they sing songs with titles such as “Warm Panda Cola” and “God Takes Care of theLittle Things”. But as much as the duo of Pete andJof revel in cute, this isn’t a children’s record. This is an album about the fear of growing up, how many will regress to childhood pleasures in order to escape the inevitable march of time.

The music most closely resembles indie pop. There seems to be quite a bit of idolization of Belle and Sebastian going on, with some Shins and Wilco influence in there as well. Best tracks are “Monsters” with its nice melody and handclaps, and “I’m Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star” which has a Beatles-esque “Oh Bla Di” feel to it. The lyrics of most of these songs are just as cutesy as the performance, but once in a while the lyrics will be a little more ironic, such as in “Sleeping With A Gun Under My Pillow”, whose chorus is vaguely reminiscent of Blur.

The big downside of a record like this is sometimesyou’re just not in the mood. There’s more depth thanmeets the ear to the record, but it is so blatantly and consistently happy sounding that it can be very grating if you’re tired or angry. This might also be one of those records you don’t want to play aroundother people. Its not toothpaste commercial music,but it is definitely more (I don’t want to use the word but it fits) gay than most emo.

This album accomplishes what it sets out to do, but its definitely not for everyone. Proceed with caution. — Goon

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