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Record Review - Think About Life's Family

Were it not for my unhealthy craving to rank any and all things in relation to each other, I might not have remembered that Think About Life's self-titled debut was my #1 favorite album on 2006. Were that the case, I likely wouldn't have even known they had a new album, especially considering there is no release date scheduled outside of Canada. Thankfully, I do have that number fetish, and I do remember, and I have the Canadian release of Family, and even better, it's fantastic.

Whereas Think About Life was a series of experimental demos disguised as an experimental album, Family is pure pop bliss. The boys of TAL have learned to use their wild, multitasking energy and focus it into ten tracks so deliriously danceable that you'd hardly believe they were the same band. The sound is fuller, yet still somehow dissonant and just amateur enough to feel genuine. "Sweet Sixteen" and "Set You on Fire" could be instant number-one-summer-jams, but the absolute winner is album closer "Life of Crime", with its gently building rhythmic loops, foot-stomping beat, and compelling lyrics:

It could be the raging bull in all of us, or the lion's paw at the back of my throat... And even if it takes the life of another man, it's the only crime I know by now, the only crime I know by heart. It's the only crime I must confess. The only crime I'm guilty of... is falling in love.