Young Dreams, the Norwegian west-coast band that emerged and received earlier praise after releasing a handful of tracks on their Facebook page, have now come out with their debut album, Between Places, on Australian label, Modular Recordings.
In tracks like “Footprints” and “First Days of Something,” there’s a little of Paul Simon’s Graceland in the mbaqanga, African sounding elements, and echoes of electronic, psychedelic masters The Avalanches throughout the album.
In their own right however, Young Dreams do succeed in creating ambient, emotion driven songs, taking the listener on an interesting yet tame, tropical pop adventure.
“The Girl That Taught Me To Drink And Fight” for example, is littered with delicate string arrangements, contrary to the violence and intensity its title implies. Though it does build slightly before reaching its conclusion, as an 11-minute track it doesn’t vary enough to avoid being labelled indulgent.
Similarly, amidst variation in sound and sentiment on the Bergen-based band’s debut, there is just a wee bit of predictability, present even in the choice of name “Young Dreams.”
The closing track of the same name is cute, and seems to be a stating of band maxim and ambition above all else, saying “we’re restless, that’s why we keep on moving/ not empty because of our young dreams… we’ll live forever…”
Overall, Young Dreams’ debut proves to be an accomplished and polished work that indicates great things to come for the Norwegian band.
