I first set ears upon Bicycle Tricycle while surfing the radio waves as a criminally dull-minded youth wanting a bit more than what I’d thus far perceived. “What is What,” (off the 10111 album) alluring in its own existentialistic way, imbued me with the sense that I could deal with my self-imposed solitude, if against the backdrop of beeps and boops. I was a youth, not yet off the wheels of my tryke and Bicycle Tricycle’s big-boy sound of lullaby made it feel all right.

I’ve met them again with some smear of mud and other signs of travel on my honest-to-God bike and we each have matured. It was a real shock to know that they had yet gained the exposure I feel is well-deserved. Certainly, with the release of Stay Foolish, Stay Hungry their sound is undeniably earnest and strong. The wispiness of Bohb’s chanson is retained and sounds to me like a starving Bowie communing in song with a delicate instrumental accompaniment. He eyes a particularly special girl like no other and devotes beautiful music—not to woo her, but in epic fashion, tell of her. Obviously, the lyrics can speak to anyone who’s had a love gone unrequited and quakes from the agony of the hurt. That said, the melody rings of a soft melancholy that’s got a register on my heart rhythms—decrescendos matching sighs. Everything about Stay Foolish is so put together that I didn’t at all feel as if the 12-track run stuttered for lack of stamina. The end culminates with a series of songs (“Like Another Girl,” “Like a Dog,” “Sunbeams) opposite to the twee-sounding “Part of Being Bad”—getting off the bike in a way. And how appropriate, too, as we listening can only hope that he has gotten off his girl, his tragic muse. The rest follows in a storybook manner, which to me, secures this album’s genuine construction and the band’s appreciation of true thoughtfulness in regards to their overall approach.