Magnet, May 2002
Departure Lounge 'Too Late to Die Young' (Nettwerk)

When you think of Nashville, chances are the first things that come to mind aren't stoned French DJs or potential crashpads for expatriated British indie-pop bands. Yet with the release of Too Late To Die Young, Departure lounge's relocation to Music City (and the addition of Parisian downbeat jock Kid Loco on knob-twiddling duties) immediately marks it as one of the most interesting features of the local musical landscape. Britpop buffs will recall leader Tim Keegan's tenure as a guitarist for the Blue Aeroplanes and Robyn Hitchcock (the latter guests on the rowdy acoustic-blues stomp "Coke & Flakes"), and even a cursory listen to Keegan's latest material betrays a twisted English-public-school bearing that sits comfortably alongside that of his fomer boss. Nonetheless, Loco's everything-and-the-kitchen-sink production sensibility shapes a work that rates as one of 2002's candidates for record-of-the-year honors, a Forever Changes-style recipe of varying musical ingredients (trip hop, psych/rock, twee '60s pop, show tunes) folded into a batter as sticky as it is tasty. Too Late is a top-to-bottom masterwork, with several compositions (the propulsive sway of "Straight Line to the Kerb," the wobbly Screamadelica groove of "King Kong Frown," the pristine, chiming "Silverline") that rank among the best English pop created in a decade, all nitpicking about geographic origins aside.