Informazioni sull'artista
Known for intimate, sometimes lonesome electronic pop, Junior Boys draw from a vast and ever-changing array of inspirations that has distinguished them since their arrival in 2003. Arty synth pop, post-disco R&B, 2-step garage, and minimal techno account for a small fraction of the sounds the Canadian duo have recontextualized. Embraced from the start by a coterie of critics, their debut album, Last Exit (2004), garnered accolades from numerous publications, leading the way to greater acclaim and commercial reception for So This Is Goodbye (2006), their Polaris Music Prize-nominated second album. This was followed by additional placements within the Top Ten of Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Albums chart for Begone Dull Care (2009), It's All True (2011), and Big Black Coat (2016). The pair continued to confound expectations with their sixth full-length, Waiting Game (2022), a set of primarily ambient ballads released ahead of a 20th anniversary tour.
Junior Boys began in 1999 with duties split between Jeremy Greenspan and Johnny Dark. Inspired by underground and mainstream sounds alike, the Hamilton, Ontario-based duo made a demo with no immediate positive results, and therefore put Junior Boys behind them. Former Warp Records employee Nick Kilroy eventually heard the recording and was compelled to start the KIN label with Junior Boys as his first signing. By this point, Dark was devoted to his day job (though he would eventually record solo and as one-half of Stereo Image). Greenspan reactivated Junior Boys by partnering with Matt Didemus, a friend of his since the early ’90s. The two stirred up interest in 2003 with Birthday and High Come Down, 12″ EPs combining early and new compositions with remixes by Fennesz and Manitoba (fellow Ontario native Dan Snaith, before his change of stage name to Caribou). The album Last Exit arrived on KIN in June 2004 and featured both A-sides. Domino picked it up for distribution in the U.S. and added a bonus disc with the 12″ B-sides and remixes. Numerous publications singled out Last Exit as one of the year’s best releases.
Recording for Domino from 2006 into the early 2010s, Greenspan and Didemus added to their discography in slow if steady fashion and broadened their scope as songwriters and producers. So This Is Goodbye, their second full-length, incorporated a cover of “When No One Cares” (written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn for Frank Sinatra) and a collaboration with Andi Toma of Mouse on Mars. Upon release in August 2006, it cracked Billboard’s Independent, Heatseekers, and Dance/Electronic charts, and it was later nominated for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize. Carl Craig’s remix of the LP’s “Like a Child” was up for a Grammy in the category of Best Remixed Recording. A three-year gap between studio albums was plugged with a commercial DJ mix for Get Physical Music, Body Language Six, highlighted by tracks from their growing number of contemporaries, including Matthew Dear, Kelley Polar, and Johnny Dark’s Stereo Image. March/April 2009 brought Begone Dull Care, simultaneously JBs’ most upbeat and subtle effort to that point. Greenspan and Didemus offered the smoother and hookier It's All True in June 2011.
The duo let their Domino contract run out, and for a period were visible primarily with separate pursuits. Greenspan released tracks on Dan Snaith’s Jiaolong label and collaborated extensively with Jessy Lanza. Didemus was behind a handful of 12” singles as Diva and as one-third of N/Y/X. Over time, Greenspan and Didemus recorded an album’s worth of Junior Boys material that they deemed too familiar and dispassionate for release, but their outside endeavors revitalized their creativity. In February 2016, Junior Boys returned with their fifth album, Big Black Coat, released in Canada on Greenspan’s Geej label and elsewhere on City Slang. Despite the five-year absence, the pair received a warm welcome, placing Big Black Coat on the Billboard charts in roughly the same positions as their second, third, and fourth albums. Japanese art-pop and early Chicago house influences filled the record, and even seeped through its cover of Bobby Caldwell’s red-haired soul classic “What You Won’t Do for Love.” Conversations Greenspan had with male patrons at his Hamilton bar informed the lyrics of some of the original material.
Continuing to live on separate continents — Didemus had relocated to Berlin — the duo took a break for a few years. Greenspan had continued his affiliation with Lanza, contributing to her subsequent albums, and had established a local recording studio while remaining a bar co-owner. Didemus spent a few weeks of early 2020 in Hamilton, during which he and Greenspan developed new material. After Didemus returned to Germany, Greenspan finished writing and recording Waiting Game, an atmospheric set of songs released in October 2022. Junior Boys set forth on a 20th anniversary tour the following year. ~ Andy Kellman