The energy of Kiwi Jr.‘s new album is like a group of kids running on the beach, erratic and carefree, backed by the certainty that summer will never end. The opening track «Photos of Reenactment», in the tradition of the best 80s jangly guitar pop, reveals from the very first second the arsenal with which the Toronto band presents itself on their fourth album.
While on «Blowin’ Up» or «Pure Michigan» they sound like the reincarnation of Elvis Costello & The Attractions, with keyboard arrangements so vigorous and agile they induce the vertigo of a roller coaster, on «Hard Drive, Ontario» they build the song on the same foundations that Weezer built a career. «New Jade Rabbit» sounds like a bastard attempt by The Strokes to make soft-rock à la Fleetwood Mac (Julian, please, if you’re reading this: don’t try it). «Caught in the Wild» slows down to approach Wilco territories, with that electric spark-like guitar solo that seems like the sequel to «Impossible Germany».
An album so intrinsically indebted to American indie-rock culminates with the powerful «Landscape with a Limousine» —featuring Protomartyr—, where as listeners we become participants in the protagonist’s torment in the metaphorical distance separating a convertible Chevy Impala from an indistinguishable family car.
Thematically, stories are interwoven about students crossing the border to buy alcohol, songs inspired by true crime podcasts, or by the unusual discovery of Wi-Fi passwords in remote rural areas, creating spaces to reflect on adult life, personal insecurities, and the certainty that summer always ends, even if the next one is just around the corner.