Six years since their last album, 2016’s ‘Big Black Coat’, ‘Waiting Game’ finds producers Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus in a tender and contemplative mood; a switch-up from their punchy, R&B-infused dance melodics.

 

In the years since making ‘Big Black Coat’, Greenspan co-produced and mixed two albums for Jessy Lanza (2016’s ‘Oh No’ and 2020’s ‘All The Time’, both on Hyperdub), cared for and then mourned his father, and built a recording studio in his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. In early 2020, Didemus joined Greenspan in Hamilton, jamming and recording for several weeks before returning home; by March, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the world into lockdown.

 

In this uncertain period, drawing from Didemus’s co-writing and musicianship, Greenspan wrote and recorded ‘Waiting Game’. The album’s additonal musicians are Canadians, too; Caribou collaborator Colin Fisher performs saxophone throughout and Bonjay frontwoman Alanna Stuart sings alongside Greenspan on the song “Yes 2”.

 

“I see the Junior Boys audience as private, as listening deeply,” Greenspan says. “The lyrics may be pieced together, but they’re not meaningless; they’re never non-sequiturs and they never mean nothing to me, at least. ‘Waiting Game’ is intended to give the listener some respite. I like the idea of people putting it on a home and exhaling in relief, even if that relief is tinged with some sadness.”

 

In this, Junior Boys have made an album that reflects the quiet beauty of the world, so long as you’re prepared to truly listen.