Young Magic: Breathing Statues (Carpark, 2014)

April 30, 2014 at 11:32 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Young Magic: Breathing Statues

I barely remember this band’s debut, but I reviewed it for the radio station when it came out and apparently I thought it was decent but very hipster, very Pitchfork, very post-this-and-that-and-Animal-Collective. I’ve pretty much forgotten about it, though, so listening to this band with fresh ears, this new album sounds pretty good. It still brings to mind plenty of other things that have been some degree of fashionable for the past few years, but the band seems closer to having their own sound. It just sticks out more, and the songs are more memorable. Some cool trip-hop beats (“Fall In” is just groovy), some sensuous grooves, kind of like a more perky version of the new HTRK album (especially “Foxglove”), and “Holographic” totally sounds like mid-90s IDM, but with vocals and more song structure. This band toured with Purity Ring, and “Something In The Water” reminds me of that band the most. “Mythnomer” has some slow, sick beats and obscured, filthy rapping. “Waiting For The Ground To Open” is an airy ballad with thumb piano and hand drums. “Captcha” ends the album with a captivating drum machine ballad. It’s one of 5 tracks on the album that features harp, but this is the one where it seemed most effective to me, with the second closest being the intro to “Holographic”.

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