Keep On Smiling’s glossy veneer never disguises its particle-board center.The Alternate Side has been keeping tabs on the Northern Irish band Two Door Cinema Club for a while. If anything, these songs tout living the very unexamined life that Byrne’s used to mock. Trimble’s cadence, meanwhile, borrows heavily from David Byrne, especially on the “Burning Down the House”-esque “Everybody’s Cool.” But those echoes of Talking Heads only underscore how desperately he lacks Byrne’s wild edge or cutting view of the world. They beg for some thicker low end to cut through the treacle, and maybe just a hint of darkness to temper their artificial sweetness. They’re imbalanced, too heavy on chirping guitars and reedy synthesizers, which along with Trimble’s falsetto tips them toward the shrill side. This mix doesn’t do these songs any favors, either. While the group comes through as usual with hooks, Keep On Smiling’s sunny-side platitudes and peppy tempos scan as forced fun. But as fixated as these songs are on the bright side, they’re never all that convincing.
The Man-flavored bounce of “Lucky” is similarly fit for pool playlists. “We say it all of the time, the time is now, it’s now or never,” singer Alex Trimble cheers on “Wonderful Life.” The Portugal.
True to its title, Keep On Smiling keeps its chin up, with songs about the good old times and the even better ones that lay ahead. It’s a record as efficient and impersonal as a frozen yogurt shop on the street level of a mixed-use condo development. Recorded with assistance from the Killers/ Bloc Party producer Jacknife Lee, a studio pro as synced to alt-radio’s wavelength as any, the band’s fifth album, Keep On Smiling, revels in the sounds of the moment, even as it ostensibly calls back to the New Wave funk of Talking Heads and INXS. So far that hasn’t happened for Two Door Cinema Club-the group’s steady streams have never translated into real radio support-but they’re close enough to the piñata that you understand why they keep swinging.
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