Pitchfork

The Junior Boys have released two albums to date, and both of the Canadian synthpop duo's full-lengths are basically immaculately gorgeous pieces of starry-eyed melancholy. This year, they'll try to make it three-for-three.

The duo spent most of 2008 working on Begone Dull Care, the follow-up to 2006's So This Is Goodbye. Because Jeremy Greenspan is still in Canada but Matthew Didemus recently relocated to Berlin, they had to put this one together in a Postal Service sort of way. Begone Dull Care comes out on Domino in Canada on March 24, with a U.S. release set for April 7. "Hazel", the first single, will also be released on 12" and as a download on

So what's up with that album title? "The title is a reference to a short film by the pioneering Oscar-winning Scottish-Canadian animator and electronic composer, Norman McLaren, who was a big influence on the conception and creation of this album," says a press release.

Starting March 28 in Toronto, the two will tour the U.S. and Canada, and they'll bring along Domino labelate Max Tundra as their opener. Just because, you know, a Junior Boys live show isn't enough inventive bedroom pop by itself. They also have a brief Euro trek scheduled for early March.
Begone Dull Care:

01 Parallel Lines
02 Work
03 Bits and Pieces
04 Dull to Pause
05 Hazel
06 Sneak a Picture
07 The Animator
08 What It's For

Dates:

03-06 Berlin, Germany - Lido
03-07 Cologne, Germany - Studio 672
03-08 Zurich, Switzerland - Stall 6
03-10 Brussels, Belgium - AB
03-11 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
03-12 London, England - Scala
03-13 Manchester, England - Academy 2
03-14 Dublin, Ireland - Academy