There's no hype, no fanfare accompanying this group's assured ascent because Junior Boys are not particularly fashionable (yet) and their sensitive, soulful, serene sound tends to provoke a reflective, measured response from those who hear it, rather than the usual premature ejaculation of superlatives. Critics like Junior Boys records because they remind them of so many other groups and producers from the past, without really sounding like anyone but themselves. And critics love to try to categorise, to pin down this band's distinctive style but, as you'll appreciate when you play the album, that's a tricky thing to do. You can say that Last Exit, the album, sounds like X doing Y with Z if you like, but it's the songs -- the magnetic, mesmeric songwriting of Jeremy Greenspan -- that stay with you long after the comparisons have faded from memory. His songs are vulnerable and sentimental without being wet, romantic and tender without resorting to cliché. Junior Boys? music is cutting-edge but easy on the ear. They discreetly use clever arrangements and advanced techniques to make their synth-pop as human as possible. They have a talent for writing familiar songs in an unfamiliar way, and for writing unfamiliar songs in a familiar way. This music has never been underground as such, it's just that no-one's really aware of it yet. Last Exit succeeds in every respect as an album because Junior Boys execute their ideas with style and grace. This is charming music for a charmless age, an old-fashioned style of pop performed in an exciting new way."

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