Los Angeles – Electric Youth features L.A. and Toronto-based couple Austin Garrick (he) and Bronwyn Griffin (she). The electronic pop duo have been producing beautiful music together for several years, including the collaboration with David Grellier (aka College) on “A Real Hero,” which was featured in few momentous scenes in the film, Drive. Their long-awaited debut LP, Innerworld, is like entering a perpetual dream state. The record symbolizes 80s synth pop, but doesn’t impersonate. Rather than being an addendum to a long-gone era, Electric Youth’s sound is the soundtrack to the generation trying to figure it out even when hope is the only thing they have.
Garrick’s contemplative synths alongside Griffin’s melancholic vocals are a match made in divine heaven. The duo’s romantic relationship surely adds much substance to the twelve tracks found on Innerworld. While the record is a downbeat affair, it would be a challenge not to be immersed by this set of glimmering, meditative, and starkly beautiful songs. Innerworld is one’s own personal oasis that allows you to feel, believe in, and acknowledge the world around you.
The album kicks off with the instrumental track, “Before Life,” which captures a soaring M83-like arrangement. It sets the mood right away for what ends up being one of the most delicate, serene albums of the year. “Runaways” follows as an introspective song with washed out synths. Griffin’s tranquil vocals breathe new life into the genre. These are the type of songs you can close your eyes to and be carried off somewhere far away from whatever might be troubling you. “WeAreTheYouth” starts off with a sci-fi-ish robotic beat. Soon after it segues into this blissful, timeless, and captivating resonance. Griffin sings about being “the youth,” a commodity that can only last for so long before it swiftly dissolves. “Innocence” is another song that embodies the realities of being young and free. It’s full of nostalgia and carries a reflectiveness that should connect to the generation Electric Youth speaks to. “Without You” plays as a companion piece to the aforementioned songs. It circulates with heavy, hazy synths that, though reminiscent of the 80s, lives and breathes in today’s spectrum.
The superlative track is “The Best Thing,” an utterly romantic and expressively stimulating tune that embodies hopeful, sentimental exhilaration, and to these ears, the best song they’ve put out since “A Real Hero.” (Though three years’ old, the latter is included on the album, and it sparkles and shines like an ageless gem.) It’s rare for Electric Youth to take any missteps, even if much of the album has a similar sound throughout. The only two tracks I found to be a bit lackluster were “If All She Has Is You” (a John McGlynn cover) and “Another Story,” which throw off the rhythm momentarily.
Innerworld is cohesive in its youthfulness. It’s emotionally packed with Garrick’s tantalizing synths, Griffin’s sentimental lyrics, and transcendent vocals. Electric Youth’s debut album radiates with endless beauty in an idyllic soundscape that surely everyone could use once in awhile.
Be sure to check out Electric Youth’s Facebook for more information about their November North American tour. Innerworld is out this week via Secretly Canadian.
Sean Kayden
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