Recorder. Check. Fiddle. Check. Cutesy Cover. Double Check. It’s been a long time since The Boy Least Likely To has delivered a follow-up to 2005’s certifiably tweetastic ‘The Best Party Ever’, I started to wonder if we would ever hear anything from them again.* Lucky for their fans Jof Owen and Pete Hobbs decided they weren’t quite finished.

*I later found out their hiatus was a result of issues with their former record company, not death from an overdose of sugarplums and pixie sticks as I initially suspected.

The Law of the Playground begins with ‘Saddle Up’ lyrics appropriately starting with ‘It’s time to get back on the road’ using their complete arsenal of instruments including fiddles, banjos, recorders and glockenspiel. The album continues in much the same vein, the only real musical change being a Moog, which combined with the pop sound automatically reminds one of Weezer spin-offs The Rentals. Musically, there’s not new here which is a blessing for fans of the first album.

Lyrically, TLOTP on the surface seems to match the music: upbeat and whimsical, reminiscent of a romp through flowery pastures, but if you really pay attention, you’ll notice more angsty, perhaps even sinister undertones, kinda like ‘Ring Around the Rosy’ being played during an abandoned playground scene in a scary movie.

The Law of the Playground is what a fan of The Boy Least Likely To would want to hear as a sophomore album. Owen and Hobbs could have experimented a little, but decided to keep preaching the pop gospel. They can definitely get an Amen! for that.

4/5

 

 The Boy Least Likely To - Saddle Up: Play Now

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