Sometimes it's reassuring to hear a new record and be able to trace its lineage back to its precise point of origin – from a sonic standpoint. Take Green Day for example; author Stephen Frears wasn't wrong when he wrote that the origins of the band's sound could be traced back to Stiff Little Fingers; the guitar styling and tone of it on “Suspect Device” is virtually identical to that found on Kerplunk! and Dookie. The same could be said of Queens Of The Stone Age's relationship to Kyuss; one simply could not have existed without the other, and trying to argue otherwise is totally fruitless.
It is the nature of indivisible relationships which begins to come to mind as one listens to Youth Lagoon's sophomore effort, Wondrous Bughouse. In listening to this record, it becomes perfectly clear that the long protein strands and amino acids which would ultimately come together to form this groups DNA first began to coalesce at a Flaming Lips concert in Boise, Idaho in 2009 (perhaps the one at which Built To Spill also played) and, after some primordial arranging and structuring (most of which can be heard on Youth Lagoon's 2011 debut, The Year Of Hbernation) they have arrived as a complete, self-aware entity all unto themselves; there's no question of the band's inspirational lineage (no questions like “Where did this band come from?!”) and this record is a perfectly satisfying blueprint for where Youth Lagoon mastermind Trevor Powers sees the band working at the moment as well as where he hopes to take it next.
Listeners will be able to feel their eyes getting wider involuntarily as “Through The Mind And Back” opens Wondrous Bughouse with some odd and atonal hums and drones. They'll feel themselves get swept away into a vibrant and brightly colored aural landscape which seems wildly exciting – even if they don't understand it – and it's hard to not want to give oneself over to it completely. That air of the gloriously unusual unknown is the hook which will catch listeners of a particular mind about “Through The Mind And Back,” and Powers takes it on himself to make sure they're kept safe in his care; the constant flow of synthesizer colors and the composer's own almost childlike vocals are soothing and comforting and make it easy to follow along through songs like “Attic Doctor,” Pelican Moon,” “Sleep Paralysis” and “Third Dystopia” – so much so that it's difficult to tell where exactly one song ends and the next begins. Under normal circumstances, some listeners would complain that such blurry song structures would be frustrating at least or half-finished at worst but, here, it's awfully difficult to complain about anything Wondrous Bughouse is offering; the record is just warm and pretty and comforting and wildly addictive.
After “Dystopis” fades out to close the record, the spell cast by Wondrous Bughouse will be broken, leaving listeners to try and decide what exactly they just heard and (given that there's no easy way to answer that question) why they liked it so much. Eventually, they'll all come to the same conclusion: just as The Flaming Lips did years ago when they stopped trying to play punk rock, took acid and got weird, Trevor Powers and Youth Lagoon have just taken them on a beautiful journey which had no final destination, just a desire to see how wonderful a trip (ahem) they could have. Because of that aimless design, it goes without saying that Wondrous Bughouse won't be for everyone, but those of us with the right mind with line up to see where the band will be headed next and what kind of trip they'll have in mind when they release their next full-length.
Artist:
www.youth-lagoon
www.youthlagoon.blogspot.ca/
www.facebook.com/youthlagoon
www.twitter.com/youthlagoon
Download:
Youth Lagoon – "Dropla" – Wondrous Bughouse – [mp3]
Album:
Wondrous Bughouse is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
