Although statistics serve a questionable purpose at the best of times, there's no denying that Younger Brother have a well-established fanbase (the biography, filled with reams of numbers clearly intended to instil a sense of awed hush in the reader, describes close to 500,000 profile views, 600,000 plays and 16,000 friends on MySpace; over 1,000,000 combined plays on Youtube; 4,800 friends on Facebook; 70,000 addresses on the band's mailing list). 2003's "A Flock Of Beeps" led to world tours and its follow-up, 2007's "The Last Days Of Gravity" narrowly missed out on a Mercury Prize nomination. And that's without taking into account band member Simon Posford's alter-ego, Shpongle (whose 2009 offering, "Ineffable Mysteries From Shpongleland", with Ronald Rothfield, received an impressive ten stars on this very site), which last year sold-out two nights at Camden's Roundhouse.
On first listen then, "Night Lead Me Astray" could come as a bit of a disappointment to the legions of fans that have watched, listened to, visited, clicked, liked, and friend-ed Younger Brother and their music over the course of the band's lifetime. For "Night Lead Me Astray" arrives signalling a pretty serious change in the Younger Brother sound. The drifting, at times twisted psychedelic waves of their 2003 and 2007 offerings are gone. If "The Last Days Of Gravity" saw a move towards a richer, more "organic" sound, then "Light Lead Me Astray" is a full-blown plunge into a full-band, almost melodic rock, construction. Electronic touches are still evident - background washes of swirling synths, rippling percussion - but it's the walls of decidedly crunchy guitars, hammering and churning in equal measure, that sweep all before them. That and the "emotive" vocals, which are almost bound to upset their public for what will probably be perceived as a lurch into Coldplay-esque territory (one comment left describes the new track as "quite 'normal'... from what I've come to expect and love from YB").
Indeed, it's the move from what used to constitute a Younger Brother vocal (the occasional freakish, bad-trip samples, stolen audio clips) to mainstream-brushing refrains - and the verse-and-chorus format that comes with them - that could be considered the greatest departure. And although it retains the onion-like layered quality that can be found in much of Younger Brother's earlier stuff, the ambient, at times sauntering, flow appears to have been traded up for a more aggressively direct approach.
|
This chilled-out ebb, missing from the lead-track, reappears (much to the relief of the band's hardcore base, one suspects) on the palpitating cool of b-side "Pound A Rhythm", all shifty tics and bubbling licks. In this case, Ru Campbell's lyrics, which become gradually more looped and tinted, meld more naturally with the intricate tribal drums, spiralling motifs and effervescent percussive breakbeat, and should reassure fans that Younger Brother haven't changed direction entirely. The EP package is completed by Cicada's surprisingly decent remix of "All I Want", which takes the undulating trance bassline and distorted slide guitar, throws away the swing, and crams the whole thing through a high-hat infested electroscape of whirring blips, crisp drum machine claps, and heavy, distopian synths.
The package is bound to cause a stir. Younger Brother's musical evolution will invariably leave some fans cold and screaming sell-out. It's not quite that yet (although the word "pop" is already being bandied about the forums), but for those who have loved the band's previous material, be warned: this is Younger Brother all right, but perhaps not as you once knew them.
Younger Brother on MySpace
Twisted Records online
Author's note: the promotional version reviewed here features only four of the five tracks listed on the Twisted Records website.
|
![Review - NIGHT LEAD ME ASTRAY [EP] - YOUNGER BROTHER - - Twisted Records -](/images/wh_logo.gif){kind=logo}
![YOUNGER BROTHER - NIGHT LEAD ME ASTRAY [EP]](/images/uploaded/reviews/nightleadm91120107441.jpg)
