Point of Go

Album Review

Jonquil's third album finds the mixture between Hugo Manuel's smooth, sometimes sweet but not cloying vocals and the peppy, easy grooves of the musicians as a whole coming together in a dollop of something just this side of 1984 or so — if not exactly Vampire Weekend as an equivalent, then something equal parts Haircut One Hundred, a-ha, and something undeservedly obscure from the Mediterranean around that time. Certainly the sprightly highlife guitar lead on "It's My Part" and the winning, bright brass parts that recur throughout the album are the kinds of things meant to put a smile on the face at the least. Song titles like "Mexico" and "Getaway" may give a feeling of party music for the chillwave generation, but there's more of a sense of cool reserve as much as passion, a carefully constructed pose that slips easily from song to song and thrives because of it. It can be as subtle as percussion breaks below the basic pulse of an arrangement, or a gentle piano solo in an arrangement. The flip side is that Point of Go feels like an immediate pleasure more that one that lingers in the mind, but if some songs breeze by without sticking, other songs like the two-part "Point of Go," split between a calmer and a more energetic section defined by the drumming, stand out. Meanwhile, moments like "This Innocent," Manuel's singing set against gentle keyboards at the start, and the liquid, overdubbed harmony break on "Real Cold" hark back a bit further to Brian Wilson's late-'60s work, but unlike so much of what's followed in that vein isn't content to stay there — and for that we can all be grateful.