Saturday 18 August 2007

THE VOICES 'THE SOUND OF YOUNG AMERICA'

01 the sound of young america
02 I'll always be within you when there's no-one left inside
03 second wave
04 you share a smile I thought was true
05 you broke a heart I gave to you
06 don't let go
07 love

"So what is it that lies at the heart of the shoegaze experience? Is it walls of "shimmering sound"? Vocals relegated to a back seat? Feedback looming from within soundscapes? Long, long songs? Well, yes, and all of the above feature large in "The Sound Of Young America". But primarily I will suggest it is repetition. And plenty of it. I said plenty of it.

The obvious reference points - Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Robin Guthrieesque guitar parts - can be spotted in the mix here, and on "You Broke A Heart I Gave To You" (the counterpart to preceding song "You Shared A Smile I Thought Was True") even touches of Pink Floyd, circa "See Emily Play".

"Don't Let Go" is just shy of 7 minutes of alternation between 2 chords with the drums kicking in about halfway through, before the line "And I know it's oh so hard" is repeated mantra-like until the end. I said mantra-like until the end.

Some songs have no vocals, some feature female vocals, some male, some, like the final track "Love", describe a battle royal between drums and guitars, climaxing within honours just about even. But all are repetitive, captivating, skilfully produced, and manage to sound fresh, yet also epic." Sounds XP

1 comment:

Zak said...

any chance of reposting this? Would love to d/l