The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a Scheme

Artist: The Radio Dept.

Album: Clinging to a Scheme

Record label: Labrador

Rating: 4

There is something to be said for being worth the wait and with Clinging to a Scheme, their third album since they first came on the scene in the 1990s, The Radio Dept. seem to be making a case for the adage. Clinging to a Scheme comes after four long years of frustrating anticipation since the Swedish band’s 2006 album Pet Grief with it’s claims to be influenced by “minimalist post-punk, krautrock, repetitive motorik beat and ambient noise”. For the uninitiated, The Radio Dept. is a fairly conventional indie pop outfit with glazes of electronic soundscape. And yes, the influences only preempt the peculiarity of the 10 track long record with hard to deconstruct layers of guitar riffs, overlapped with speech samples and Saint Etienne like dance pop that the albums has to offer. WithClinging to a Scheme, The Radio Dept gives us an album that, in all likelihood, will turn into a cult offering in a decade. The shimmering clarity of Heavens on Fire is echoed throughout the album as it opens with Domestic Scene, the melancholy lyrics are well juxtaposed with the consistently cheery music on the record. Tracks like This Time Around, David and A Token of Gratitude – even as it borders on the histrionic – emerge in new layers on each spin. A long time in the waiting as it may have been, the band delivers a high fidelity, textured album – with The Radio Dept.’s trademark dreamlike ambiance –that will continue to unravel its myriad layers with each listen.