Today I want to talk about a group I just recently got in to. They are called "The Radio Dept." and are gaining some popularity from the recent release of their third album "Clinging to a Scheme". If you have never heard of them they are a very interesting sounding indie/Dance pop group from Sweden. The instrumentation revolves heavy on keyboards and loops but also has some cool guitar hooks. This album is the reason I found myself listening to them but as I said before they do have lots more material.
I found myself liking this album very much. Its soft enough to listen to and work or do other things but interesting enough to stand on its own. It has lots of really great keyboard lines and loops that really stand out. The guitar focus of this album is small but tasteful. Most songs will find you listening to drum machine sorts of tracks but on a few tracks and all live shows a real drum kit is used. Almost all the songs found on this record are good and few are great. This ends up being the albums downfall in a way. All the songs feel the same. The same sorts of sounds worked in different ways. This is good because the sound is good but on the other hand the album feels kinda tedious. Some tracks off this album do stand out though. Tracks like "David" and "Memory Loss" really stand out from the rest. The only track off this record that I cant stand is "Heavens on Fire". This song just rubs me the wrong way overall.
This album as a whole is really good. The songs are all interesting and fun even if they all sound almost the same. The album has a very interesting and unique feel. Being a foreign band this album sounds very un american. Overall a very interesting album. If you have not checked it out yet you should do so. I personally think this album by them is the only one worth your time and I would give this album a solid 6.5 to 7 out of 10.
