Last Exit (Junior Boys album)


Last Exit is the debut studio album by Canadian electronic music group Junior Boys. It was released on June 7, 2004 by KIN Records in the United Kingdom and on September 21, 2004 by Domino Recording Company in the United States. The album was promoted by two singles: "Birthday" and "High Come Down".
Last Exit received rave reviews from critics. The United States release contains a bonus disc adding songs previously only available on their EPs.

Critical reception

Last Exit received highly positive reviews from music critics. The album holds a score of 89 out of 100 on the review aggregator website Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim." Writing for Pitchfork, Scott Plagenhoef praised the album for its "deceptively simple and very approachable tracks" and remarked that songwriter Jeremy Greenspan was able "to fold elements of nearly a quarter-century of forward-looking pop into a distinct sound without sounding either conceptual or trading on contradictions or the smoke-and-mirrors of attention-grabbing eclecticism." Uncut wrote that "the contrast between romanticism and sonic daring, alien time signatures and freakishly pretty tunes, is irresistible." The Guardians Dorian Lynskey stated that Junior Boys' "spectral vision of electronic pop is an understated, unpredictable delight", while PopMatters Adrien Begrand called Last Exit "a warm, friendly, entirely accessible pop album." Andy Kellman of AllMusic noted that the album's songs "can be enjoyed with or without all of the analysis and context" and praised the duo's "ability to be alluringly aloof". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly called the album "prettily nostalgic and gloriously right now."

Accolades

The song "Teach Me How to Fight" ranked at number 57 on Porcys' list of the best singles of 2000-2004, as well as number 16 on Screenagers' list of the best songs of the 2000s.
Acclaimed Music, a site which aggregates hundreds of critics' lists from around the world into an all-time ranking, declares the album as the 1591st most acclaimed of all-time.
PublicationCountryRankList
CokemachineglowCanada19Albums of the Year
Eye WeeklyCanada9Albums of the Year
MagicFrance10Albums of the Year
PorcysPoland4Albums of the Year
PorcysPoland22Top 100 Albums from 2000-2004
PorcysPoland7Top 100 Albums of the 2000s
ScreenagersPoland25Albums of the Year
ScreenagersPoland4Top 100 Albums of the 2000s
B92Serbia16Albums of the Year
CD DromeSpain24Albums of the Year
MondosonoroSpain17Albums of the Year
RockdeluxSpain21Albums of the Year
NöjesguidenSweden36Albums of the Year
SonicSweden16Albums of the Year
The GuardianUK*1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die
No RipcordUK10Albums of the Year
Rough TradeUK57Albums of the Year
UncutUK15Albums of the Year
AllMusicUSA*Albums of the Year
Left Off the DialUSA14Albums of the Year
PitchforkUSA28Albums of the Year
PitchforkUSA76Top 200 Albums of the 2000s
PopMattersUSA26Albums of the Year
PrefixUSA49Albums of the Year
StylusUSA4Albums of the Year
StylusUSA26The 50 Best Albums of 2000-2004
StylusUSA47Top 100 Albums of the 2000s
TrebleUSA133Top 150 Albums of the 2000s
The Village VoiceUSA41Albums of the Year

*denotes an unordered list

Track listing