Review Speaker

Junior Eats Alone presents Love Will Slow Me Down: their debut-album, but you can hardly call it that. Why? Well for one thing the band have been making a name for themselves (and quite successfully too), with their previous bandname 'Id', for several years. Now, under their new name, their record is finally here. The eight members of the band have worked on it for as long as five years.

The cd is designed to look like a menu from a restaurant. The fourteen tracks are divided into four apetizers, six main courses, three desserts and a housewine. The appearance of the record is clever, but does the album sound as a well-balanced piece of music? I decide to put the record on and listen to it as if my gustatory papillae were in my ears.It starts of great, mainly because the dreamy sound of Chef cook Ronnie Verton is very easy to listen to. In fact, after a couple of songs, it starts to remind me of Thom Yorke.

There's a lot of diversity in the different tracks, where the brass (that often appear througout the album) deserve some extra credit.The laidback pace and the wonderful trumpet-solo in Anadine linger in my mind, while the modest Down And Lonely and the up-beat All Around really continue to impress me.

During the intro of Living Below the record almost starts to rock, but not too much. That's okay though, because the strength of this album is secured by the accessable melodies, the diverse rythms and the irresistable voice of Ronnie Verton.The cd-booklet includes a set of toothpicks: keep 'em. You'll need them later on, because Love Will Slow Me Down has a lingering taste! RICHARD