Mumbled Punctuation

Junior Boys “Parallel Lines”

There is no trust in this song — not for the person being addressed, or the language either person uses to end their relationship. Every civil consideration is called into question, and every word uttered is analyzed for traces of malice, or taken as evidence of the empty rituals of human interaction. Like virtually all Junior Boys songs, the music is comfortable but chilly, and the lyrics are direct, but aloof and dispassionate despite the subtle soulful inflections in Jeremy Greenspan’s voice. The most uneasy aspect of this piece is just how pleasurable it feels, and how that seems to deepen the singer’s disconnection from the person addressed by encouraging the notion that he’s getting some small measure of sadistic gratification out of putting up a distant, unfeeling front. The song also sounds kinda sexy, which isn’t an adjective I’d prefer to use to describe something with such a passive-aggressive tone, but there you go.

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