Photo: Chris Basford Photography
Info: Last night Dubin-based indie-rock four-piece Young Earth launched their debut EP, Frequency Illusion, with their biggest headline show to date at The Academy 2.
The band have earned critical acclaim from blogs and music tastemakers both internationally and in Ireland, leading to a busy summer of festivals, a co-headline tour and regular local and national radio play, including being included on RTE 2fm’s Rising Playlist.
Frequency Illusion fully introduces the band’s broad Indie Rock sound, fluctuating between Summer pop anthems to heavier, fuzzier sounds - all the while maintaining a desire to create short, sharp relentless ear-worms with a harder coating.
The EP's self-titled opener merges the two qualities that have seen previous single 'Got A Secret' amass over 100k plays on Spotify, the soft day-glo indie-pop with an undercurrent of that instinctive rock edge which is imparted from the rolling guitar riffs and thick heavy bass wobble.
Second track 'Worth It' chops up the pop-rock songbook and puts it back together again with a trademark Young Earth stamp, drawing on the innocence of 50's rock chart-toppers and 90's indie รก la Lemonheads, the song is a straight-up care-free pop ballad.
The aforementioned 'Got A Secret' is next up, the groups most popular and well-known track sees them retain those catchy elements but start to fully turn the screw on that contemporary rock twist. As soon as frontman Mark O'Keeffe utters the line; "You are the ghost of everything that I used to know....", you are sucked straight into the song. The shuffling grind of guitars and hard bass-lines coupled with the manic stop-start percussion sweep everything into a frenzy, with the chorus accentuated very nicely in its later parts by a distant backing vocal.
'Undercover' shows a different side to Young Earth's song-writing, gone is the overt joviality of the previous tracks, here they appear to be concentrating on honing into a more modern indie mood. The nonchalance of the music and cast-off vocal delivery are certainly a welcome addition to the YE arsenal. Closing with most recent single 'Let Go', again the band show movement in this new direction, yes there is a retention of the indie-pop DNA of earlier songs, but there's also a sound which will appeal very much to fans of current indie-rock.
With Frequency Illusion Young Earth give fans of indie-pop music the best of both worlds, the unadulterated and hook-sinking joy of 'Got A Secret' and the EP's title-track, and a more mood-driven vibe courtesy of the EP's final two songs. The mix of both styles are what will ensure longevity amongst fans and allow the four-piece to straddle many variants of the genre in which they reside.
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