Young the Giant - Young the Giant

Crap the music.

Hopefully the second of a long chain of self-titled releases, 'Young the Giant' was strictly released in the latter half of 2010. "Well why are you reviewing it now, you nonce?" you may ask (and hurt my feelings), but "because I can" would be my response. I might pad that out with "I only discovered them recently" and then even maybe "because of Jools Holland". It's also got the prestige of a scathing Pitchfork review - which had initially launched me into "well they weren't that bad, were they?" musings of disbelief.

Well, in short, they kind of are. Opening track 'Apartment' is a take on the soft-rock sensibilities that have become pretty much convention for 80% of the like that NME might review, remarkably the second single from the record. Lyrics vary from nonsense ("you carved a boat to sail my shadow, now I walk alone") to generic ("things are falling apart) - the absurdities continue into 'My Body':

Is it my fault that
The fallen embers burn
Down in a spiral
Round your crown of thieves

the track however is one of the album highlights - positioning the band into an energy they don't again unleash. Riffs here are driven and focussed, and Sameer Gadhia's vocals are infectious, building towards a pretty nice singalong.


They do their best Vampire Weekend impression on 'I Got' with a crashing vicissitude from the former track - sounding like a skiffle track covered by a band from your local college. Cello + guitar = attempts at Coldplay tension in 'Cough Syrup' and it is a pretty capable impression ("life's too short to even care at all" a slight digress from Chris Martin's typical romanticism though), with distorted riffs and a predictable "this is epic drumming" approach. 'God Made Man' is a carefully concocted blend of stadium aspirations (it quite literally begs to be treated by waving arms with lighters) and a sudden shouty-end-bit.

'12 Fingers' is another standard for modern rock bands to pinpoint - the subdued romantic one - and has a rather conventional structure and chorus. 'Strings' plods along with a "ai-ai-ai-ai-ai" chorus that does its very best to try and be catchy but falls far short of it. 'Your Side' even tries layered harmonies over some riffs borrowed from The Soft Pack (it reminds me a little of "Answer to Yourself" except with 1% of the invigoration). 'Garands' at least is a strong riff that builds a chorus with some substance - sounding The Joshua Tree era U2 done by pale imitators (because...that's what it is).

'St. Walker' sounds like the blueprint for a brilliant Chuck Norris revival but is instead about a street walker. See what they did there? The guitar work is better here and less predictable. It's nearly the end of the album so we have to have an acoustic bit of howling - seen in 'Islands', which is merely Gadhia's syrupy vocals and some indescript echoes, before an odd percussion kicks in and finally asserts a bit of difference. Closing track 'Guns Out' adds a little bit more credit to drummer François Comtois, but is let down by falsetto warbling and a pretty unimaginative progression.


Anyone excited by this record, or this band, has obviously happened to fall upon them without having heard of the likes of Neon Trees, Vampire Weekend, The Vaccines, Cold War Kids or Cage the Elephant before. Which would be quite a remarkable achievement really. Alas, make of the record what you will. I can just guarantee it'll be forgotten within 5 years.

Rating: 4/10
Highlights: My Body, Islands, St. Walker, Garands
Avoid: Strings, Your Side, Apartment, God Made Man
Artwork Watch: jagged triangular pieces of paper made to look like pyramids - the only piece of creativity about the record.