Len - It's Easy For You

As most would believe this band was done and long since forgotten even by the members but this album appeared late last year and I found it on Rdio. I gave it a listen and was taken back with how surprisingly good it was for a group that really is a one hit wonder to the letter. They had a couple of failed singles from that first album but in the end they will forever be known for "Steal My Sunshine" and after hearing this new album that should not be the case at all for Len.

The opening track is one of my favorites of 2012 "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" that has all the trappings that a fantastic pop song should have. The melody is perfectly sweet and chorus is so catchy that Krazy Glue doesn't have anything on it in the stickiness department. Being an indie album it doesn't have an indie feel in the sense it sounds like a big budget major label record. The production is excellent and the group write full fledged hit songs one after another. The dance jam "As Long As We Got Music" which features Micah Braun of Winnipeg band The Nods and now of Jicah turns out a good groove that easily fits pop radio.

The group ebb and flow into and out of Hip-Hop and blatant bubblegum pop which works at nearly every turn that shows not all one hit wonders deserve to be dismissed after that one massive success. One listen to "If You Want It (You Gotta Go Get It)" will force you to immediately add it to your regular listening rotation. It makes me want to skip and dance down the city streets in the sunshine like a happy fool with nothing but giddy happiness flowing out of me. From the uber catchy chorus to the boppy melody to the group singing "Oh Oh's" this song is a winner winner chicken dinner!

I'd like to tell you how great this record is in such a manner that compells you to go buy it and make them huge and make this album a massive success because this is awesome pop music that deserves more than anyone could know to be at the top of the charts. At the tender moment of the album "Feels Like Home" the electro-pop loneliness almost breaks your heart, then they follow it up with the uplifting and positive "Nothing Brother Me" that once again has zero wrong about it from composition to production to performance to instrumentation. The excellent little moog solo just makes me smile as it quirkly struts past in a rush.

The album closes with three more strong songs and one that rivals everything on pop radio right now "It's My Neighbourhood" and I can see this song becoming a television commercial song at some point as it just has that sound that seems to be popular in that medium right now. After one of the weaker songs the closing number is as good as anything Cold Play or the Imagine Dragons are putting out. Overall this album is a shock because of how wonderfully giddy and sweet it is that never comes close to being cheesy or forgettable. I highly recommend that It's Easy For You and since it came out so late in 2012 it will be a surefire member of my best of 2013 album list without a doubt.