MUSIC
YOUTH PICTURES OF FLORENCE HENDERSON YOUTH PICTURES OF FLORENCE HENDERSON Indie/Post Rock
5 years agoYouth Pictures of Florence Henderson wowed my senses with their freshman effort “Unnoticeable in a Tiny Town, Invisible in the City” (which featured the greatest use of an audio sample, by Charles Manson no less, in the entire history of everything, sans Porcupine Tree’s Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It’s Recycled), and after that, they just disappeared. I seriously hated them. Nothing’s worse than a music tease. You cannot dangle the carrot of sweet sweet pleasure then remove it from my sight. What bastards. The feeling continued until I met the drummer Morten Samdal last year while stuffing my face with falafel at a Kabab shop in downtown Oslo after an Andrew Bird gig (yeah, I added the last bit just to rub it in), and after several minutes of attempting (and failing) to peel me off his person (I’m a groupie, there, I said it) he promised me that they will release a new album next year. I told him I’d stalk him if he were lying. He chuckled. I don’t think he understood how serious I was. Or maybe he did,
180
because 3 months later, pow, new album. (Threats of physical violence work, folks). With their self titled release, the band sticks to it’s past formula, sinking it’s teeth in shimmering guitar that is so many find to be cliché in the post rock genre (I personally don’t think so, naysayers be damned) and they utilize it to such sonically gratifying degree. Surprisingly (for a post rock band, at least) the record features vocals! And while that could have very well been a reason to cower in sheer horror, the duality of Gjermund and Torbjørn distinctive wispy vocals instantly reminded of Death Cab For Cuties masterpiece We Have The Facts And We Are Voting Yes. The band laces it’s hallmark post rock formula with sparsely used electronic and string instrumentation which, in any other scenario, would’ve been ultimately predictable, if not for some surprisingly hardcore drum sensibility that creates a rather lucid effect, blending so effectively with their delicate melodic ballads to
create a captivating and rather heart breaking recording. An utterly unashamed pop post rock record. I never thought I’d live to see the day. Odin bless.