All formerly based in Canberra, half of HYG have recently moved their base to Melbourne and the change has done wonders for them.
Hopeless Youth Group otherwise known by their acronym HYG is a Canberra band known for their powerful live shows. With a healthy mix of instrumentals and vocal-centred songs, the band has spanned the range from indie and garage to disco, ambient to post-punk, while retaining a distinctly meditative, psychedelic undertone.
Their independent efforts have earned them their niche within Australia’s psych underground, including airplay on community radio and supporting gigs for the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Lazy Eyes and Party Dozen. Their self-titled album is a collection of songs that ticks all the checkmarks for a superb psych-rock album.
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To start things off, the nine-minute opener Awareness is a stunning melancholic instrumental that perfectly eases into what the project is all about. The track’s strength is in its simplicity, with electric guitars, keys and bass seamlessly exchanging roles as the main focus. The reverb atmosphere brought by the synths and the reverb effects brings a contemplative nature to the song, making it almost impossible to turn off.
What You’ve Found which served as a single for the album is everything you want in a sunny psych-rock track. Oskar’s bass is pleasantly in your face straight from the get-go and acts as a backbone throughout, while the other elements especially Mark’s guitar and vocals do amazingly well to provide the much-needed layers.
Mark shares a fascinating story regarding the process of the album, “I wrote the bulk of the album while living briefly in Paris with some touring jazz musicians, listening to lots of French, German, Japanese psych bands and heading to the local venues for all the touring bands. The house I was living in had lots of street art outside and a beautiful grand piano in the living room, so all the tourists taking photos of the walls heard the album as it was being written,”
Nearly every track in the album is gorgeously arranged and performed, but the song Waves, in particular, is a very strong highlight. Sean’s groovy synth patterns and Lucius’ fast-paced drums immediately get your head banging, while Mark’s electric guitars that come in and out of the song bring a nice element that almost serves as the vocals of the track. To top it all off, the second part of the song in which the heavy kick drums and rhythmic guitars crescendo the whole arrangement into a beautiful climax adds a whole new dynamic that shows the level of versatility that the band members possess.
Outside of excellent performances from each of the band members, it’s clear that a lot of effort also went into producing and mixing the whole sound, making every track fit into the larger puzzle. All in all, this debut album is just wicked from straight to the finish and perfectly embodies what HYG stands for and much more – a dedicated psych-rock band that’s got all it takes to go above and beyond. The band will be doing an East Coast tour throughout August to celebrate the release.
Follow HYG on IG here.
