Savage Hills Ballroom - YOUTH LAGOON CD

Often perceived as a recluse (his first LP is called The Year of Hibernation, after all), on Savage Hills Ballroom Trevor Powers has fully opened himself to the world for the first time ever. The 10-track collection is his most ambitious, unguarded work to date, recorded in Bristol, UK and mixed / engineered by Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Gravenhurst). While touring on his last record, 2013s Wondrous Bughouse, Powers got a call that one of his closest friends had unexpectedly passed away, forcing him to cancel the rest of the tour and head back to Idaho. He says, "that experience made me start viewing Youth Lagoon differently - it was a complete refocus for me." This sense of gilded rebirth floods the instrumentation on Savage Hills Ballroom - Powers vocals are largely unadorned and his pop-conscious electronics reach new feats of precision. Meanwhile the lyrics explore darker territory. Kerry is the story of Powers revered uncle whose drug addiction led him to running from the law for most of his adult life, while Highway Patrol Stun Gun imagines Biblical end-times through the lens of the recent cases of police brutality. NPR called Wondrous Bughouse "the most arresting headphones record youll hear all year," but on Savage Hills Ballroom Powers has taken off the cans and made a record meant to communicate, rather than shut out. "I think Ive had a lot of barriers in my life in general that I dont let people past, and Ive gotten really sick of all that," he explains, "Its too tiring trying to pretend you dont have as many flaws as everyone else."Additional Info: Boise, Idaho-based D.I.Y. singer/songwriter Trevor Powers steps outside, geographically speaking, for the first time on his third studio long-player, the stark, soulful, and often strident Savage Hills Ballroom. Recorded in Bristol, England with producer Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, Giant Sand, Gravenhurst), who wisely removes the safety net of cumbrous vocal reverb that has served as the vessel with which Powers has been delivering his falsetto-led laments to the myriad pains of youth since his 2011 debut, the ten-track set is Youth Lagoon's most cohesive and mesmerizing to date. Powers' distinctive voice, a reedy, untamed amalgam of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne and Danielson Famile patriarch Daniel Smith, is left mostly untouched effects-wise throughout, and that sonic austerity lends an air of immediacy to the proceedings that has eluded prior outings. Opener "Officer Telephone" treads familiar ground initially, pairing Powers' cryptic prose with a simple keyboard chord progression and a distant hi-hat, but a propulsive midsection yields a surprisingly breakbeat-heavy finale. Elsewhere, the languid "Highway Patrol Stun Gun" impresses with its pure melancholy sunset pop acumen, the meaty single "The Knower" finds Powers boldly wrestling with the dualities of the social media shame/validation cycle, and the soaring "Rotten Human," a hook-filled, pugilistic blast of hard truths and cruel ironies, finds him at his most vocally commanding and affecting. With Savage Hills Ballroom Powers has expanded the Youth Lagoon sound without losing any of the intimacy of his bedroom pop beginnings. He's still transmitting directly from the vagus nerve, and the anxiety behind each track is palpable, but it's madness delivered with a confectioner's touch. ~ James Christopher Monger

Specifics

  • Album: Savage Hills Ballroom
  • Artist: YOUTH LAGOON
  • Label: FAT P
  • Genre: Pop
  • MPN: FP1510-5
Tracklist

1. Officer Telephone
2. Highway Patrol Stun Gun
3. The Knower
4. No One Can Tell
5. Doll's Estate
6. Rotten Human
7. Kerry
8. Again
9. Free Me
10. X-Ray

(CD-767981151052)

SKU CD-767981151052
Barcode # 767981151052
Brand FAT P
Shipping Weight 0.0520kg
Shipping Width 0.130m
Shipping Height 0.010m
Shipping Length 0.130m

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