Vancouver is an odd musical place for bands to come from, they fight to remain fiercely Canadian but the city\u2019s proximity to the United States gives them a dose of America one would never get from, say, Montreal. It\u2019s a fine border to straddle, there are few bands as impressive as Vancouver\u2019s New Pornographers nor as lasting as famous son Bryan Adams (as much as some would like to forget). Hell, one of America\u2019s most popular albums \u2014 Bon Jovi\u2019s Slippery When Wet \u2014 was recorded in Vancouver. Love first got its bad name north of the border.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s with this fusion I approach Homesick Future, the debut EP from Vancouver quintet Young Liars. Catchy danceable tracks merge with moody electronic beats, while musical etchings lifted from \u201980s bands (think OMD and New Order) share time with those from recent indie acts (The Rapture and Wild Beasts). Young Liars doesn\u2019t quite know where it stands, but that\u2019s fine because its music is sure to get you moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cEchoists\u201d opens the album with a lilting array of synths set against a driving drum beat and occasional jangly guitar. Jordan Raine sings with an even, tempered keel, never raising his voice above the din around him. The song is pleasant enough, a trying to be a dance song I wouldn\u2019t expect people to dance to \u2014 it never rises to the point of overt movement. \u201cColours\u201d fares better, the EP\u2019s lead single which incorporates more of the electronic feel one would get from a Paul Van Dyk set. Raine is livelier here, you sense he\u2019s moving his body as he sings along. With brief moments of fun guitar amid the blips and beeps, \u201cColours\u201d is an album highlight.<\/p>\n
The following trio of songs \u2014 \u201cNavigator Island,\u201d \u201cMarathon\u201d and \u201cHomesick Future\u201d \u2013 are well constructed, but don\u2019t offer much new from the first two tracks. After the title track, I was prepared to write off the band as not quite ready for prime time. But \u201cNewton, Forgive Me\u201d changed my tune. The best and most interesting song on the EP, \u201cNewton\u201d is moody and roaming, Raine takes on the lyrics with aplomb as his band mates give him a landscape to excel in. The song evolves into a sing-along before delving into the minute-long instrumental \u201cGreat Green Light\u201d which doesn\u2019t add much to the proceeding<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t figure out what Young Liars wants to be, and maybe that\u2019s the point. \u201cSome people won\u2019t ever get what I mean\/And that\u2019s OK\/We\u2019re still the same,\u201d sings Raine, in what could be the band\u2019s mission statement. It plays what it pleases, and if you like it, that\u2019s cool, and if not \u2014 whatever. With some newer bands I discern they\u2019re trying to ape the latest thing (Chill Wave, pah-lease) to find an audience that will love them. Young Liars isn\u2019t doing that, which is commendable, but time will tell if the band\u2019s way leads them to the masses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vancouver is an odd musical place for bands to come from, they fight to remain fiercely Canadian but the city\u2019s proximity to the United States gives them a dose of America one would never get from, say, Montreal. It\u2019s a fine border to straddle, there are few bands as impressive as Vancouver\u2019s New Pornographers nor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[266,265],"class_list":["post-1177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-homesick-future","tag-young-liars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1179,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions\/1179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}