One of the knocks against two-piece bands is that they lack variety in their sound, and that the music can become samey and repetitive. It’s true that duos are often forced to work with a smaller set of sounds and sometimes the music can suffer. However, recent years have seen talented two person acts step up and make great records. Dodos, High Places, No Age and others have overcome their small lineups and created awesome music and it’s time to add Vancouver’s Japandroids (made up of Brian King on guitar and David Prowse on drums, which each handling vocal duties) to that list.

True, their debut album Post-Nothing will do little to quiet critics who harp on duos for a lack of sonic variety, but Japandroids impressively take their modest arsenal of sounds and create a thrilling, catchy, and very fun LP. First single “Young Hearts Spark Fire” is the star of the show. It’s a blast of noisy and energetic garage rock that proves to be very infectious. It moves along quickly, as do most of the tracks on the album, and the pace is a major plus, as it helps keep the energy level up, which is great because these kind of songs feed off of that energy.

What’s interesting about “Young Hearts Spark Fire” is the different phases it goes through. It starts fast and keeps the pace for awhile until breaking down after the first chorus, and then picking up again shortly thereafter. It does this a few times, and it makes the track a thrilling and unpredictable listen that feels like it’s flying by the seat of its pants the entire time. The most interesting part though is the melancholic lyrical content that betrays the tune’s fun feel. “We used to dream/now we worrying about dying/I Don’t wanna worry about dyin’/I just wanna worry about sunshine girls,” sing King and Prowse. The whole thing feels so destructive and unhinged it’s impossible not to get swept up in the sound and chant along.

Another highlight is mid-album track “Heart Sweats”. The track plays up tense, frustrated verses for its first few minutes. The verses are accusatory barbs flung at a lover that the singer has some nasty things to say about. Despite having a “heart cold as ice” and a “soul as black as death” though, the Japandroids are still smitten, as the vocalist admits, “still my heart sweats.” The XOXOX chorus is when the song finally cashes in the quieter tenseness of the verses and it’s a simple but great moment when it happens, and you’ll be hard pressed not to shout the letters along with them.

At eight tracks and 40 minutes, Post-Nothing does a good job of getting in a getting out before the shtick gets stale. It’s a pretty consistent album that does a small handful of things very well. Sure, the same sounds permeate the entire record but Japandroids manage to do something unique enough on each song that I never get bored or feel like skipping a track. Post-Nothing is unapologetic and unfiltered lo-fi garage rock that does a great job of scratching that itch for something loud and uncomplicated.

Any album bursting with this much youthful energy and skillful songwriting is bound to be a blast, and it’ll be interesting to see if Japandroids can keep the fun levels on high over the course of more full lengths, but for now Post-Nothing is enough.
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Catch Japandroids Thursday, October 10, at Schubas. Tickets are available right now at Schubas.com for only $12! It’s an all ages show and starts at 3 p.m., so get there early. Their 21+ show on Wednesday night is sold out.
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