While obviously I have no idea what the members of Young Galaxy eat for breakfast, I’m going to take a wild guess and say they don’t just eat cereal every morning. Their self titled debut album was quite different from 2009’s Invisible Republic. The experimentation, stretching their limits, and morphing of sound continues with their third full length Shapeshifting.
I’ve always enjoyed the way Young Galaxy have had a sound that somewhat fits with their name. Despite the changes from album to album, they still seem to be able to keep that dreamy traveling through space type of sound. With Shapeshifting, they maintain that spacey sound through an album that seems more interested in the strength of vocals and icy synths than through echoing walls of sound. Studio’s Dan Lissvik produced the album and has helped morph this band into a different animal than their first few albums.
The album has a number of highlights. Catherine McCandless’ vocals continue to be a focal point of the album as she shows her ability to engage in a deeper vocal rage with lots of gusto such as during “We Have Everything”. In that track her vocals propel the song forward as she sings “in poverty we had everything”. Her voice allows her to sing a heavy line like that and seem like she means it as opposed to it sounding like shallow crass talk. “B.S.E.” carries an almost funky line throughout that makes you want to move and dance rather than just be lost in the music.
Despite the strong songwriting and vocal performances, I have found that this album can seem too cold and lifeless at times. Those emotional heartfelt moments may still be present, but they can be buried too deep in the sound textures. While this album show the band can be stretched and challenged creatively, it can become almost boring and lifeless stretched over eleven songs. But I’m not too worried, this is a band that knows how to push their limits and consistently put out good music.
Young Galaxy – We Have Everything (right click save as)
Listen to the entire album streaming over at exclaim.ca
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