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Live Review: ALBUM REVIEW: Youth Lagoon 'Wondrous Bughouse'

4 March 2013 | 10:30 am | Hannah Galvin

Trevor Powers' solo project Youth Lagoon is just about ready to give you his second album Wondrous Bughouse. In the meantime, here's what we think of it!

Youth Lagoon

Since releasing his debut record The Year Of Hibernation back in 2011, Trevor Powers - better known as YOUTH LAGOON - has returned to his throne with his sophomore LP Wondrous Bughouse.

A wonderful album that has been sprinkled with moods, philosophy and quirkiness, Powers has definitely put a lot of time and effort into the crafting and songwriting of his second full length record.

An album that entices you to join its bizarre existence in an unknown world, the opening track 'Through Mind And Back' wastes no time in getting you there. An odd little tune, your ears will feel like they're listening to the last fighting breaths of a run down piece of machinery that has been abandoned by its mechanic.

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The expansive second track and single of Wondrous Bughouse is 'Mute'. Compiled with detailed synths that overlay the supportive percussion, Powers completes this glory with the addition of vocals. This track seeks to satisfy, and that it does, as its versatility adapts to whatever mood you're in.

'Attic Doctor' makes you feel like you're partaking on the endless journey of a futuristic carousel. But it's futuristic in the sense that it's actually quite vintage. To make that clearer, think about how Blade Runner is supposed to be set in the future, yet screams 1980s. Ya dig?

The delicacy of Powers' vocals against the instrumentation in 'The Bath' sounds as though it's all been recorded under the water level of a full bath. Once the change of this track kicks in, it's as though someone's pulled the plug, as everything feels as though it's being sucked up by the drain; slowly but surely. This one has the ability to cause nostalgia to some degree, depending on the listener.

It seems as though this LP has been sequenced by mood, as 'Pelican Man' takes off where 'The Bath' left us. However, this only really lasts for the introduction of this track. Soon after, a keyboard riff goes on a quest to lift the mood a little, introducing an influx of synths and a vocal chant.

A track you're most likely already familiar with, 'Dropla' was the very first single of Wondrous Bughouse. Taking on more of a conventional song structure, there is more emphasis placed on Powers' vocals. Not to say that what we've heard up until this point is in any way overdone (because, let's face it, it's been a pretty damn awesome ride), 'Dropla' comes across as a refreshingly tidy track. Once you near the close of this song, you really notice the amount of texture that this song facilitates, next to yet another consistent key riff.

It's easy for me to say that the title of 'Sleep Paralysis' speaks for itself, but trust me, it does. At parts it's very evocative and dreamy, yet Powers' vocals give it a very lonely delivery. So lonely you feel as though you are stuck inside your own shell. It picks up though, as steady keys and drums feed a backdrop of squabbling synths and samples. This continues until we're taken back to where we started with this track.

'Third Dystopia' treats us with a sound very far from a dystopian tale as it could quite easily pass as a lullaby. Things start getting a little more serious though. Having said that, it's equally very majestic, as the instrumentation binds together in a very compacted manner. A track very open to interpretation, its mood swing will affect each listener differently.

'Raspberry Cane' whirls in like a sudden breeze, yet is shadowed by a dark figure. Once the mood is slightly uplifted with a co-lead guitar and keyboard riff, it suddenly spills into a bigger field as an explosive array of textures enter the track's domain. This dude knows how to build.

Wondrous Bughouse closes with 'Daisyphobia'. The track opens with a synth sounding not so sure of itself. Once the strong piano lines enter the sonic space, they latch on to create a beautiful setting for the audience to lose themselves in. Further on down the track, things become more animated, as these synths break out of their apprehension. This is due to their louder involvement next to the piano lines that have now been accompanied by a steady drum beat. Not long after this peak, a ringing synth drowns everything that once existed in the track. It doesn't stick around for long though, as it eventually swallows itself up.

A very creative and edgy enterprise, Youth Lagoon pulls off Wondrous Bughouse with great success. The charming idiosyncrasies that evoke from each track work, and are each pulled together tightly to make an album full of flair and story.

Youth Lagoon's Wondrous Bughouse will be available via Fat Possum Records on March 5th. Until then, stream the entire album HERE.

Words by Hannah Galvin.