Well it was completely arbitrary that I ended up hearing this album. No one gave it to me to review but I was doing some searching on YouTube for a video and ended up on this page (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFpwEF-KrVg) which is delightful and happens to have a song from this album as the soundtrack of it.
Starting out with that song, "5 Years Time" it was a safe assumption that the band would be all happy go lucky, indie rock, smiles abound sort of stuff - and a lot of it is. My first thought upon hearing the song was that it belonged in an iPod commercial. Being as that I never watch TV anymore I didn't realize that it was in fact in a Saturn commercial. Upbeat, catchy, smile on your face sort of music. If you listen to this and you don't smile you are trying too hard not to. It's just fun, fun, fun. This isn't the only song that makes me want to dance around my room (and for those of you who know me, dancing around my room isn't one of my normal hobbies). The first song on the album, "2 Atoms in a Molecule", should have been in Juno (whether that is a good or bad thing to you is another issue). "Shape Of My Heart" is equally adorable, as is "Rocks and Daggers". Lyrically though it isn't just all sunshine and puppy dogs. There is pain here and there is joy - and there is plenty of both.
It is the songs on the album that are not so upbeat of catchy though that make this an album truly worth getting. "Give A Little Love" and "Do What You Do" both utilize beautiful violins and some orchestral percussion. They are sweet, heartfelt, deep yet simple. "Mary" is supposedly about his life's love and is incredibly bittersweet - the sort of song that speaks to anyone who has has a heart. The choice to end the album with "Hold My Hand As I'm Lowered" is so fitting. The song is half beautiful, half heartbreaking - like the rest of the album.
Just a great album altogether - really recommend this one.