Young Astronaut’s debut long-player ‘Foal’, which they’re giving away for free, is a spirited set of songs that combine elements of 90’s indie, punk and folk. But despite the presence of a fiddle, don’t think for a second this means they’re the new Levellers – thank dog. The new New Model Army might be nearer the mark, at least on certain tracks like ‘Dust’.
Over the first third of the album they demonstrate a fair degree of range, as exemplified by the gentle acoustic number ‘Shadows’ which contrasts well with the deliberate stomp of ‘Broken Teeth’. They’ve definitely got a knack for a hook, and there are some choruses that if I was in the mood for wheeling out tired phrases from my well-worn copy of muso hack clichés, I’d probably describe as ‘anthemic’.
It gets a bit Travis around the mid-point though. Admittedly, they’ve got more chug than jangle, and a solidity to the sound that’s quite appealing, but the mid-pace numbers with quiet introspective-sounding verses that lead into stadium-friendly choruses get a bit humdrum in their formula and predictability after not very long at all. Even the spitting venom of ‘The Artist & The Villain’ winds up sounding rather too neat and controlled to really convince, and sits amidst a succession of otherwise mediocre fare that’s well crafted but lacks that all-essential passion.
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Young Astronaut Online
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