It’s always been hard to stand out in the field of indie-rock, its open-ended nature means that dedicated prodigy and hopeless slacker alike can make it, but for many it’s also the first point of call for ‘the next big thing.’ Enter, Young The Giant. While press releases have tried to make something out of their multi-national backgrounds (Persian, Italian-Jewish, French-Canadian), the fact of the matter is they’re just another indie rock band clamouring for your attention.
It’s hard to avoid cynicism in describing their music. Their sensitive side borrowed from Coldplay in turn borrowing from U2, combined with a Kings of Leon Sex On Fire-era version of rugged. Oh, and they cite Radiohead as their biggest influence…
So it goes that cuts like opener Apartment, the morose God Made Man and weepy Strings are easily dismissed or frustratingly remind you of a host of other bands who spent their debuts desperately trying to shrug off their influences (Editors and Interpol shaking off the ghost of Ian Curtis springs to mind).
While musically, they often sound serviceable but indistinct, their strongest weapon is in vocalist Sameer Gadhia, a competent singer whose subtle vibrato lends some genuine affectation to some otherwise placeholder lyrics. Particularly when he lets his throat rattle on the fist-pumping My Body or cruising the slipstream on the breezy I Got.
Unfortunately adjectives like ‘breezy’ and ‘cruise’ end up defining the album, brought down in particular by a dull mid-section that strictly adheres to mid-tempo rock at four minutes long like it was religious dogma. Their attempts to cover every generic song style – slow-burn ballad, militaristic march, some slide guitar – ends up hurting them with an overly-long serve of too-same material.
So the question is, are Young The Giant worth your time? Yes, but not fifty minutes of it. Stick to the singles and check back when they’ve developed.
Best Track: I Got
If You Like These, You’ll Like This : An End Has A Start EDITORS Come Around Sundown KINGS OF LEON, Parachutes COLDPLAY, Stellastarr* STELLASTARR*
In A Word : Lacks Personality
