Think About Life - Think About Life (Alien8 CD)

Okay okay, stop me if you've heard this one. There's this three-piece band out of Montreal who create brief, energetic, angular indie pop songs and feature brazenly flamboyant artwork as well as a guest appearance from rapper Subtitle, all on their debut album released by Alien8 Recordings. So I find the parallels to the Unicorns a bit unsettling. Sue me (to be fair, Subtitle never actually appeared with them when they were called the Unicorns...but you knew what I was getting at). But I can't hate a band based on similarities I've drawn up (though I've been guilty of worse) so I've actually listened to Think About Life's album in an attempt to see if there's more to these guys than what meets the eye. The answer is "not really" but that's not really an insult. Think About Life operate on a plane of what-you-see-is-what-you-get. The write-up for the album on the Alien8 website totes this as not much more than a breathless, exuberant party album, which is exactly what it is. The lyrics are largely expendable and just barely do the job of filling in the spaces until the next zany synth breakdown or noisy guitar lick. The formula works best on the opening "Paul Cries" and "Commander Riker's Party", when the trio's only concern is getting you out of your seat. Less successful is "Money", a 5-minute long bummer party that becomes even less interesting once it finally gets going. Subtitle's appearance on "What the Future Might Be" is very good, rapping his way out of the swampy mix he's been (intentionally, I presume) buried in. The album closes with "The Blue Sun", another dreary number that doesn't do the album any favors. Listen a bit longer after that and you get a very "Baba O'Riley"-inspired secret song! I commend Think About Life for keeping the album's running time to about thirty minutes long - anything less would be unfulfilling, anything more would be obnoxious. And the best compliment I can pay the band is that their album held my attention longer than the Islands album did...but I digress.