An adress that you know

Life post later, but first a review:

Tokyo Police Club are young like us and they want us to know that we are welcome. Following several top-notch E.P.s and plenty of blog coverage that called them exactly that (top-notch, that is), their full-length debut exhibits a mature and unique sound without getting ahead of themselves or alienating the listener.

Their growth I should mention is only in the sonic sense; gone are the telephone microphones and the paranoid, almost spastic nature of their early work. The Club have been sufficiently Saddle-Creekified. Elephant Shell cuts the dung (heh heh) and leaves us with fiery Wire by way of Mates of State synth punk, streams of shoegaze guitars floating in the background and lots of feel-good upbeat rhythm leaving you feeling quite... good. Ushering you into this collegiate comfort zone where you can do anything (but are not obligated to do anything at all) are the awkward and sincere vocals of Dave Monk that easily could ellicit "aw"'s from more than just this listener. His lyrics share the same ability.

Opener "Centenial" begins: "This is skin/you can wrap all of your arms and legs in/an address that you know,"; small-town solidarity from your best friend freshman year you may have lost to a transfer or the hallway's shifting cliques. The people that populate these songs aren't cynics; they've never "heard of fiction...never heard of fact" as the song continues. Lacking any kind of jaded worldview, they are wholly committed to one another in times of loss (the aptly named "Graves") and never forget the days when they were "captains of submarines made of steel" on the playground growing up ("The Harrowing Adventures of..."). They're those people, the best friends you sometimes/somehow take for granted (and they, you), you forgive and forget and grow with until it's time to "toast the last of a dying breed" as they do on album closer "The Baskervilles."

Single "Your English is Good" (which originally appeared mid-2007) remains the best thing they have ever done. It's every adventure you wanted to take - part Goonies, part Sandlot, part October Sky - crammed, in typical Club fashion, into three minutes along with more edible stuff about best friends, telling the truth, driving around and the most propulsive and catchy synth line of the last two years that wasn't on a M.I.A. or Kanye West record.

If you are under the age of 21 and live in the suburbs, have dreamed and try to tell the truth, then this album should edge its way into your lifestyle. It's addictive like drugs but it doesn't cloud; it only serves to make clearer what you do, why you do it and what makes the connections you feel with friends, family and lovers so special.

Four and a half stars, whateverrrrrrrrrrrr