Music reviews – Young Galaxy: Shapeshifting

Young Galaxy
Shapeshifting
Paper Bag Records

Shapeshifting may have only come out last year, but it sounds like it was pulled straight out of the 1980s. Most of the songs sound fairly similar, with minimalist guitars, prominent synths, electronic drums, and vocals with heavy reverb. The album is a boring counterpart to MGMT’s Congratulations. Each track seems to have the same dynamic – you could almost dance or groove to it, but it ends up being a tad too mellow for that.

Amongst the really bad ’80s sounds, there are a few moments of brilliance on Shapeshifting. “For Dear Life” is likely the strongest track from the album. It’s probably the lone song that’s interesting from beginning to end, whereas songs like “We Have Everything” and “Shapeshifting” have a few cool parts but somewhere along the line lose that cool and revert back to the corny ’80s feel, which dispels any thought you might have had that the song was going anywhere intriguing. This could have been an interesting an intriguing third album from Young Galaxy, but instead it sounds too much like a bad mix of pop tunes from 30 years ago.

Paul Bogdan
A&C Writer