Pitchfork

The Boy Least Likely To is actually two boys-- multi-instrumentalist Pete Hobbs and singer/songwriter Jof Owen, schoolmates from Buckinghamshire, England, who started a band and a label together in 2003. However, if this new song from their upcoming second album, tentatively due this summer, is any indication, they could be The Balloon Least Likely To. "I'm not a boy," sings Jof over Pete's bright synth fanfares and yo-yo bassline. "I'm a big fat balloon flapping in the wind." They ride this helium-filled metaphor through three minutes of inventive and unabashedly twee pop, but as its title suggests, "A Balloon on a Broken String" is not all stuffed animals and ice cream cones. Drifting "carelessly on a summer breeze, bouncing above the trees," he feels like he's deflating. The line "I know I look all shiny and bouncy but I'm all empty inside" could be a Morrissey parody, but Jof delivers it earnestly. Truly, the freedom of the wide-open sky is constraining and lonely, and even the shoo-de-do's and sha-la-la's that pepper the chorus can't cheer up this Least Likely Balloon or steer him right. Nevertheless, thanks to the duo's chipper delivery, you can rub this song on your sweater and the static electricity will make it stick in your head all day.

Stream:> The Boy Least Likely To: "A Balloon on a Broken String"
[from a forthcoming album; due Summer 2008 per the band's MySpace]