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Avg: 3.5 (66 ratings)
- Date Released: April 24, 2007
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Indie Rock
- Label: Arts & Crafts / IODA
Montreal scenesters' dazzling — if derivative — debut.
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We Say...
Young Galaxy's eponymous debut album is a tantalising affair that sees the cosmic rock duo both lifted and restricted by their influences. For every moment these tyros appear poised to strafe the stratosphere, there is another one of join-the-dots copycat predictability.
The band is, to all intents and purposes, former Stars touring guitarist Stephen Ramsay and his long-time girlfriend Catherine McCandless, and their epic yet fractured indie-rock unfolds within the thrall of UK minimal-is-maximal goliaths Spiritualized and psychedelic voyagers such as Flaming Lips. Opener "Swing The Heartache" is typical, Ramsay offering an erudite stoner critique of modern living through a morphine guitar haze.
Like many bands in the burgeoning Montreal scene, Young Galaxy sound like Britophiles, and the ardent "Outside the City" recalls long-lost early-'90s shoegazers like Ride or Lush. The spectral "Lost in the Cell" is similarly FX-heavy, McCandless sounding like a one-woman girl band marooned in a white-out blizzard. Ramsay is no musical slouch and the stardust guitar on the tremulous "No Matter How You Try" recalls both Echo & the Bunnymen and U2's the Edge at his most defiantly lovely.
Yet Young Galaxy's strongest influence by far is Spiritualized — which is where their problems begin. "Lazy Religion" and "Embers" both mimic Jason Pierce's opiated astral voyagers at their most sedated and do so with relative panache. "The Sun's Coming Up and My Plane's Going Down," though, is beyond the pale: its diligently observed tick-list of funereal drums, phantom organ and treated end-of-the-world vocals would rightfully belong to a top-of-the-range Spiritualized tribute band.
It would be churlish to be too harsh — this is a dextrous debut with many fine moments, but beneath all the learned mannerisms, Young Galaxy need to work out who really they are when they're at home. -
They Say...
In the new millennium, Canadian label Arts & Crafts has become a kind of hipster-fodder supplier, harboring artists like the Dears, Feist, Broken Social Scene, and Phoenix among others, so newbies Young Galaxy definitely have the necessary backing credentials to propel them into indie stardom. However, the band -- made up of ex-Stars touring guitarist Stephen Ramsay and his girlfriend Catherine McCandless, plus their backup musicians -- unfortunately don't offer much of their own musical innovation to make their self-titled full-length debut especially interesting, or even notable. Almost all the tracks on Young Galaxy rely on heavily-effected guitars, spacy keyboards, and echoey vocals to create the group's slow, warm, full sound (the exception is the out-of-place singer/songwriter-ish "Embers," one of two tracks sung predominantly by McCandless), but the band seems to be so focused on delaying and reverbing their chords and layering their voices that they forget that occasional key or tempo changes are necessary to make an album more than just atmospheric background. Neither Ramsay nor McCandless are particularly inspiring lyricists, and because of this they too often slip into simple rhymes and clichés. It's not like this in unavoidable; the Dears, for example, are able to combine drama and musicality, emotion and creativity, pushing towards the edge but never falling over it, but Young Galaxy neglect these things, and get so tied up in their own purpose, their own statement, that they forget the actual product has to be something truly worth listening to. The melodies are commonplace and remarkably similar to one another, and everything is so slow and dragging that it's hard to get through, it's hard to pay attention to, and it's hard to want to. Maybe Young Galaxy will form and define themselves in time, but until then, it's better to look elsewhere for stars.
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| 01. |  |
Swing Your Heartache |
6:17 |
|
| 02. | |
No Matter How Hard You Try |
3:49 |
|
| 03. | |
Outside The City |
3:22 |
|
| 04. | |
Lazy Religion |
5:33 |
|
| 05. | |
Wailing Wall |
3:51 |
|
| 06. | |
The Sun's Coming Up and My Plane's Going Down |
6:16 |
|
| 07. | |
Searchlight |
2:40 |
|
| 08. | |
Lost In The Call |
3:32 |
|
| 09. | |
Come And See |
4:00 |
|
| 10. | |
Embers |
3:54 |
|
| 11. | |
The Alchemy Between Us |
5:32 |
|
11 Total Tracks, 48:46 Total Length
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Credits
- Patrick Watson - Keyboards // Chris Seligman - French Horn // Chris Seligman - Keyboards // Patrick McGee - Drums // Sophie Trudeau - Violin // Murray Lightburn - Guitar // Murray Lightburn - Soloist // Jace Lasek - Bass // Jace Lasek - Guitar // Jace Lasek - Percussion // Jace Lasek - Pedal Steel // Jace Lasek - Drums // Jace Lasek - Keyboards // Jace Lasek - Vocals // Jace Lasek - Handclapping // Jace Lasek - Producer // Jace Lasek - Engineer // Jace Lasek - Mixing // Susan Beckett - Keyboards // Susan Beckett - Vocals // Susan Beckett - Handclapping // Olga Goreas - Bass // Olga Goreas - Keyboards // Olga Goreas - Vocals // Olga Goreas - Handclapping // Catherine McCandless - Vocals // Catherine McCandless - Handclapping // Robyn Kotyk - Design // Robyn Kotyk - Layout Design // Kevin Laing - Drums
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