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Young Statues

Young Statues

Written by: TL on 09/04/2012 20:36:09

One of the curious little joys of keeping an eye on the music scene is noticing trends when it comes to naming bands and albums. Words like 'Ocean' and 'Wolf' have had their golden ages when each would pop up in new song titles, album titles and bandnames all over the place and now it would seem, the time has come for the word 'Young' to have it's day in the sun. Last year I reviewed Young The Giant, this year I've reviewed Young Guns and currently waiting on my pending list are bands like; Young English, Young London, Young Statues and even Young Youth. So being young certainly must be trendy - Makes you feel a bit old doesn't it?

Anyway, the second to last of the bands mentioned, Young Statues, recently put out their debut album - also titled "Young Statues" - and on it the sixtet from Philadelphia present us with a light-weight, soft-around-the-edges mix of indie rock that sounds quite similar to bands like Dashboard Confessional and Death Cab For Cutie - both of who sit near, if not on, the fence between indie- and emo rock - yet when the expression gets particularly poppy and fleet-footed it also brings to mind the likes of I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business and even Vampire Weekend.

So that means bright, light, summery, not-quite-acoustic-but-almost songs narrated by a clean, high voice that does indeed sound quite youthful. And quite like a young person, the record's moods shift back and forth between sentimental and carefree. This and the obvious nods to bands like Dashboard and Death Cab makes for a cool, easily enjoyable sound, yet I can't help but note that Young Statues seem to have some way to go before their actual songwriting is on that level, because I'm sort of hard pressed to separate the songs from this record from each other, picking out any highlights for you. There are some recognisable bits in the likes of "Bumble Bee" and "Young Statues", which will welcome you back on repeat listens, but otherwise the album has become, to me at least, more the kind of disc I will pop on for casual, pleasant background music, than one whose songs I dig up to fully immerse myself in them.

Download: Bumble Bee, Young Statues, Losing A Friend
For The Fans Of: Dashboard Confessional, Death Cab For Cutie, Caravela, I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business
Listen: facebook.com/youngstatues

Release Date 08.11.2011
Run For Cover Records