Music Review: Think About Life - Family

There’s a certain gentle chaos to Family, the second full-length from Montreal’s Think About Life. The band, formed in 2005, approaches their craft with a sort of playfulness that proves contagious, blowing their tunes past the usual dance-pop range into a hyperactive heap of joyful racket that makes for perfect club music for thirtysomethings too old or too smart for the likes of Akon.

Using a perfect combination of synthesizers, guitars, samples, and beats, Think About Life hooks you in immediately and never lets up until the absurd pleasure rolls to a stop at the close of 2009's Family.

Think About Life isn’t a particularly profound group, but the work of keyboardist Graham Van Pelt and vocalist Martin Cesar certainly pushes all the right buttons in their quest to groove the night away. Special Noise’s Greg Napier rocks the drums and Caila Thompson-Hannant handles the bass to fill out the band’s strong rhythm section.

The band released their debut album, a self-titled record, in 2006 on Alien8 Recordings. Family, the follow-up, carries that same unbridled energy, but it also hones some of Think About Life’s musical skills and builds on the chaos and spirit of the debut.

Their approach is daring, like a child inventing a whole new world with stuffed animals and pillow forts, and they manage to go beyond the rule of the “adult dance record” thanks to some serious dedication to tracing that intangible fun factor.

The greatness of Family really hinges on their energy as a unit and each song is comprised of infectious grooves that mine old-school hip hop and funk. Some cuts are a little sample-heavy, but that’s all a part of the exploratory spirit that keeps things interesting when less appealing bands would have traversed down safer roads.

Article Author: Jordan Richardson

Jordan Richardson is a Canadian freelance writer and ne'er-do-well. He writes stuff here and here.

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