Album Review: Young Galaxy - Ultramarine

Young Galaxy
Ultramarine
Rating: Grrrr

Montreal quintet Young Galaxy's first records went practically unnoticed by me, their Broken Social Scene/Arcade Fire-lite alternative rock was workman like and pleasant but lacked any type of individual spark that would make them transcend the comparisons with their countrymen. It wasn't until 2011's Shapeshifting that something interesting happened. The band, feeling a bizarre need to shake things up, sent the tapes for Shapeshifting over to Dan Lissik, former member of Swedish pop act Studio, who spread his Balearic magic over the album's 11 tracks. There was something fortuitous in this partnership as the resulting album gave the band much needed spark and buzz. It was an album of elegantly gorgeous synth pop that just got better and better with each listen. Wanting to keep their forward momentum going, Young Galaxy once again enlisted the production duties of Dan Lissik, and have come up with another interesting batch of tracks that builds upon the foundation set by Shapeshifting. Ultramarine is not as brilliant or game changing as its predecessor but has its own charms and high points.

The one main change is the elevation of Catherine McCandless to main vocalist, forgoing any vocals from guitarist Stephen Ramsay. I enjoyed the back and forth between the two vocalists on Shapeshifting and it is the one element that I find missing from Ultramarine, however, despite this one major change the record as whole holds up remarkably well. Ultramarine opens strongly with the amazing single "Pretty Boy," a gorgeous, soaring track with undulating synth arpeggios, strings, and a bouncy drum track.



While the tracks on Shapeshifting moved and flowed in and out of each very well, there is a startling jump here and there in musical styles here on Ultramarine that takes a bit of getting used to before settling into a rhythm. From the shimmering synth pop of the opener, things take a sudden leap into sunkissed reggae and tropicalia on "Fall For You," which then springs into the fractured electro-pop of standout track "New Summer." Akin to my favorite track of last year, Sun Airway's "Laketop Swimmers," "New Summer" is an elegant ode to summer and it's intoxicating freeness that always seems to fade too fast.



From there the album ping pongs around, from the lovely dream pop of "Hard to Tell,"



slinky dance punk of "Out the Gate Backwards,"



to the wonky synth workout of "Privileged Poor,"



Young Galaxy finds away to always keep the listener guessing as to which direction they are headed. At times this approach can be a little bit exhausting as the flow of the album is a bit choppy. But the hooks and pristine production are too good to keep one from belaboring the point for too long.

Although Ultramarine lacks the OMG! moment that Shapeshifting brought to the band, but once you let the album work its magic over you it holds its own surprises. Young Galaxy feels more confident this go around, with a closer working relationship with Lissik bringing out their adventurous side, showing how they can effortlessly move between different genre experiments while still sounding like Young Galaxy. Ultramarine is a worthy follow up to Shapeshifting, and moves Young Galaxy into new and more varied territory.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.