First and foremost, Two Door Cinema Club will always hold a spot in my heart. As much as I love their music, their debut album always reminds me of the time my first grandparent passed away, and that album will always trigger that memory for me. With that being said, it’s still a great album, and I haven’t stopped listening to in the year since. That means I’ll always give their new stuff a chance, too!
With that, I gave their fifth full-length album, Keep on Smiling a spin the other day! In a lot of ways, this record is really different from their debut album. Even though they’re still heavy on interesting synth sounds, this album sound even more polished than the last four albums they’ve released. While in most cases that would probably be a bad thing (cough, Bastille), that is not how it turned out for this record. In fact, for all that was different about this album, it still very much sounded like classic Two Door Cinema Club. I’m sure that sounds dumb and the exact opposite of what I just said, but they’ve managed to capture that sound and feeling, and I’m here for it!
All that to say though, there wasn’t a single song on this record that I would call a standout or even a favorite. It was still a really good record, just very consistent and nothing too memorable. Even lead single, “Lucky” is wholly forgettable. It was reminiscent a little bit of “Bad Decisions” from a few albums back, but there was nothing that really hooked me with this new song. I suppose if I had to pick a favorite, gun to my head, it would be “High.” The lyrics made me chuckle and it had some cool transitions and instrumental bits. Otherwise though, nothing really comes to mind when I think back on listening to it. What is in its favor though is how danceable it is! My shoulders were definitely shrugging to the beat of every song off this record. That is a feat in itself!
As I said, no outright bad tracks on this record, just nothing that my music brain really held onto a few days out from a first listen. I do think this is a record I’d like to put on in the background while at work. It’s comforting in its happiness (at least sounding happy). I was also really looking forward to seeing these guys live for the first time later this month, but some personal health issues with one of the members means it’s been cancelled. I hope everything goes smoothly and I get the chance to see them someday soon.