The Boy Least Likely To, 'The Law of the Playground' (+1)
A dose of childlike goodness for the unemployed.
By Barry Walters 02.16.09 1:27 PM
President Barack Obama made it official: Optimism is no longer uncool. On their ultra-whimsical second album, this U.K. twee-pop duo seize the yes-we-can moment with plucky anthems such as "When Life Gives Me Lemons, I Make Lemonade" and "Every Goliath Has Its David." Boasting enough sugary banjos, glockenspiels, and handclaps to give a Teletubby diabetes, The Boy Least Likely To animate their softly sung indie twang with nonstop hooks, bright production, and gently acknowledged adult anxieties. Beneath lyrics celebrating balloons and whiskers lie bittersweet longings.
Watch: The Boy Least Likely To, "Balloon on a Broken String"
You did cover a good part of this album, but you failed to mention that underneath the whimsical instrumentation that makes this almost sound like children's music, there is an enlightened description of adolescence, a yearning for adulthood, and a fear of what comes with that. The album begins with childhood innocence, and then covers all of the troubles of growing up, such as responsibility, knowledge, and loss. They do a wonderful job of showing the progression from childhood to adulthood and detailing what that entails. It has some of the best storytelling I have ever heard in music, right behind Tommy in my book.
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