Youth Lagoon albums

2023

Heaven Is a Junkyard - 85%

A hard album to truly permeate into, Youth Lagoon move along at their own special solemn pace. The first half of the album especially is quite the quiet, mono sounding ride along, with the exception of the epic (by their standards) opener "Rabbit". “Idaho Alien" and "The Sling" are also worth your time for sure, but they take a while to sink in. In a lot of ways that is what Youth Lagoon's music does best, it lets you sink into yourself and try and discover the simple things in life and the beauty within. There are some drifty moments that I don't care about, as "Lux Radio Theater" is a bit too pointless for me, but mostly this is a great album of delicate moods, especially in….

          The second half of the album that really shines, and starts to use the production and arrangements to help the voice out (take “Mercury” with its psychedelic viola). “Little Devil from the Country” has the best chorus, "Trapeze Artist" tells the best story, and "Deep Red Sea" plays a bit with rhythm and timing of each instrument to throw us off course. By the time this album is over, one gets the impression the whole thing was some sort of elaborate trick? Like lead songwriter Trevor Powers really knew exactly what they were doing the whole time, and you just want to play it on endless repeat all day. That beguiling, seductive charm is rare these days.

Best songs: Little Devil in the Country, Mercury, Rabbit, Trapeze Artist