Everything Reminds Me of You

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

Can this weblog get anymore tired? Every other week I come ranting and raving about a band that sounds like Belle and Sebastian with the other weeks consisting of a fan boy update on Stuart Murdoch's goings on. How long ago was I talking about Jens Lekman being Stephen Merritt fronting B&S. When did Push Barman To Open Old Wounds come out? Though I wish for nothing more than to break this endless chain, this week is no different. But the immense amount of reluctance should help measure the amount of joy it brings me to present to you the next in line of unfair (but accurate) B&S comparison: The Boy Least Likely To.

Now any band from the UK who wields a recorder or a melodica can be pushed into the indie pop category led by Scotland's pride and joy, and The Boy Least Likely To's The Best Party Ever maximizes the same instruments that makes any sorta normal pop into twee pop. Singer Jof provides airy vocals similar to Murdoch and Jeff Tweedy at points, while bandmate Pete helps out churning solid melodies in delicate and sweet methods. And the duo draws from the same influences that their fellow contemporaries draw from.

In order to seperate themselves from pack, TBLLT craftily chose one influence to rely hard on, and its as obvious as B-rate mystery flick: The Beach Boys. The hand of god, also known as Brian Wilson's hand, has guided the pen for TBLLT. "Fur Soft As Fur", a song about coming to grips with adulthood, rides a "California Girls" bassline and banjo lick. It's not so much mimicked as it's completely lifted. And what seperates them from say... Wilson-worshippers like Ireland's The Thrills, is a very fine line. For many that line doesn't even exist, though I would argue there is darker, whimisically dark albeit (in a sort of Unicorns fashion), and less refined feel to TBLLT.

The Best Party Ever, in all its yellow cover of cartoon band animal glory, channels its vibrance though songs about fleeting adolescence and the awkwardness of growing up. "Be Gentle With Me", a phenomenal opener, follows young love, fresh with unfamiliarity. It floats with that familiar banjo and xylophone bouncing along, happy to be there yet confused with uncertainty. "Paper Cuts" is a continuation of the opening track, summery and synthy, but the broken hearted lyrics prick with tiny thorns. Ultimately the bud will become a rose if the narrator keeps mending those cut up fingers.

"I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star" continues with the youthful optimism ("I took my hits on a dumb road trip to Nashville, Tennessee") resulting failure ("We never did get famous"), but figuring out that it was the trip that made it all worth it ("It made us kind of happy and kept me off drugs"). It's driven by a children TV show theme song style that hops like a bunny rabbit armed with a glockenspiel, full of exuberance. The paranoid loneliness of "Sleeping With A Gun Under My Pillow" draws on The Beatles while single "Hugging My Grudge" is Harry Nilsson reprising "Everybody's Talkin'". Both tracks serve as the perfect culmination of innocence lost, a youthful outlook soured into a weathered, cynical forfeit on love and life.

The Boy Least Likely To succeeds with The Best Party Ever in presenting a clear and poignant theme while still harnessing the melodicism and catchy tunes necessary to make your toe tap. Though admittedly, it might be tough to get non-twee heads to consider them special and worthy of singled out attention, is it so horrible to sound like Belle and Sebastian? And even more important, is it crime to mention their name every fucking chance I get? Short answer: no. Long answer: to be discussed when the next Camera Obscura album is released.

The Boy Least Likely To: http://www.theboyleastlikelyto.co.uk/