Junior Boys at Mohawk [Live Review]

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You know what? Junior Boys are a very geeky entity. Dampened, city-slicker Canadian electro-soul from a city called Hamilton, mostly about being bummed out or the jarring complexities of adulthood relationships? It could be a side-gag in a Rogan flick - the Ontarian duo was so directly not-joking in their synth-flavored ballads, that they forced the world to regard them as a concern, not pastiche. Especially considering 2002’s Last Exit came when there was still a major schism between dance nerds and indie-rock dorks. It remains one of the most unlikely of rises in the modern era.

But what last night’s gig at the Mohawk proved is that, at least in Austin, people are completely willing to lose their shit over dampened, city-slicker Canadian electro-soul in some unpredictable, unironic ways. Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus don’t look like two men who expect much; the former approaching the stage in a too-tight T-shirt and a receding hair line and the latter equipped with a black tank-top and a hidden pack of cigarettes. They settled in unceremoniously, and started working through their set like a practice space. They do not know how to be heroes, but for the kids who gathered, they were undisputed rock stars. It can sometimes seems like the world forgot about the band post-So This is Goodbye, but there remains a strong demographic who could care less about trajectory and have stayed eternally in love. The most passionate were the ones who filled up the show, and hey, with four records Junior Boys have been around long enough to count as someone’s favorite band. When they revved up the core to this year’s It’s All True, the audience treated it like a fetishized banger, not bad for a record that’s scarcely been out for a season. They may not have the same mainlined buzz that marked their inception, but the band has survived the aftertaste that comes with hype and has managed to gather dedicated fanbase - something unfortunately rare these days.

Greenspan’s singing abilities have delicately increased from downtrodden whisperer to white-collar crooner over the band’s career, so naturally he served as the night’s MC. Tossing out all the “welcomes,” “thank-yous” and the obligatory “we always love playing here.” He was more than capable, but it’s not like he had much of a choice, Didemus was stoically unaffected in front of his keyboards - almost intimidating in his aloofness. His hips hardly ever feeling a beat, his eyes always locked downwards - to the point of lighting cigarettes deep within the grooves, like he wanted to make sure everyone knew he didn’t give a fuck. For the relative buoyancy of his music, he looked deeply fed-up. Sure it’s a superficial impression, but it was certainly a stark contrast to Greenspan’s outward politeness, almost like he was compensating for his partner’s reclusiveness.

Luckily, those sorts of diversions don’t matter much at a dance show. The world was too caught up in the hooks to worry about internal sub-dialog. It was actually kinda glorious to see such a miniature project blown up on a stage like the Mohawk. Junior Boys began a career trying to emulate a prehistory’s repertoire of influences, knowing full well the results weren’t going to be hip. A decade later you can hardly tell the difference. Junior Boys have succeeded by staying perennially fearless - a simple caveat that can often destroy a lesser band. By the time they hit “A Truly Happy Ending,” easily one of the cheesiest songs in their catalog, everyone had dropped the slightest pretension. We weren’t just dancing, we were earnestly dancing.

Junior Boys: [official]