Sure, James Figurine of "Figurine", otherwise known as Jimmy Tamborello, is in fact part of the creation known as the Postal Service, but you won't find the Postal Service here. That should be a good thing, for whatever the P.S. has added to the music scene (and come on, the music is adorable you have to admit it), people will only take that sort of pop cuteness for so long. And Tamborello certainly didn't repeat himself. this still is a cute album, with songs about apologies being gifts from friends and the appropriate oldie techno sounds with robot noises and pop heavy beats, but it lacks in the peppermint stick straight from the Christmas tree sweetness of the P.S. and instead carries along with it either (a) instrumentals or (b) strictly the vocals of Tamborello, which are decided monotone, whispery, and much more in the background than the latter.
It's sort of like when you meet this fun group of friends and you start hanging out with certain people from that group separately, and you realize the group is really fun but each person is way cooler than you assumed they'd be separated from their Siamese-joined pack. James Figurine proved his point with this album because it's got something that couldn't have been done with his other collaborations. Absolutely, groundbreaking? No. But I will say, man... It's a damn cute album if you can get past the super sleepy vocals that are hard to follow/swallow for some people, and you give it a few listens before you throw it in the pile of other poppy electronic stuff you've got lying around.
Tamborello is a lot of things, including Dntel and Figurine, on top of his fame for the Postal Service. And he has help on this album that adds a nuance to his solo effort from people like Erlend Øye and Sonya Westcott so that you won't be bored by any means. Part danceable, part impressive electronic music experimentation and twists on old favorite methods, I can't see why anyone would dislike this album at all. And as someone who isn't a particular fan of Figurine or Dntel, I would say I am now much more likely to follow Tamborello's solo career and career in general than I was before, now that I've heard this new effort of his.
- Amanda Spadaccini | 2006-07-21
