When you listen to certain albums you get an overall feeling from it, be it sadness, happiness or a sense of hope. It has to be said with this album it definitely brings a feeling of happiness with it as the indie infused music is catchy and bounces along at a nice steady pace.
Opener ‘Playing With Guns’ starts the album off with children playing in the background, and some slow guitar feedback and synth sounds. Soon enough the catchy lyrics come flowing in as the indie infused guitar riffs run through the song and starts the album off on a high.
For the second track ‘Restless’ the fast paced, catchy guitar riffs come in fast leading into the rock sensibilities of the song it again flows greatly with some catchy vocals. Another track that keeps the listened hooked is the song ‘The Universe Is a Bully’ as it brings an echo style guitar sound and some synths it lets the song have an ethereal feel to it.
<a href=“http://stellaryoungmusic.bandcamp.com/album/everything-at-once” data-mce-href=“http://stellaryoungmusic.bandcamp.com/album/everything-at-once”>Everything at Once by Stellar Young</a>
Songs like ‘The Misses’ and ‘Alright’ show more of a technical, slower side to the band as the synths are utilised to bring in a sombre feel; it allows the guitar work to really shine through both songs. With the sweet melodic vocals coming through both songs they are sung slowly but with plenty of emotion.
One of the albums finest songs has to be The Strokes influenced song ‘As You Go’ which starts off with some fast guitar riffs and heavy bass lines. As the fast paced high guitar notes are played over the sweet vocals it really shows off all aspects of the band. The chorus then comes in with “leave home and whistle as you go, (leave home now), go on and have some fun” it brings in a fun upbeat side to the song.
The album slows down for the ukulele and acoustic filled song ‘Speak Now (Good Man)’ which is a nice break from the indie infused rock songs. With some electric guitar sneaking in to build up on the melodic guitar sound it adds more layers to this folksy song.
The album finishes with the two songs ‘Dorothy’ and ‘Animals’ which again showcase some of the albums best guitar work as the well constructed guitar work runs through both songs. At the end of both songs there are catchy guitar solos mixed with some fast rhythm guitar and brings both songs to a great end. The album finishes with a sweet and enchanted xylophone and guitar mixed verse that finishes the album perfectly.
What Stellar Young have produced is a great, catchy, indie sounding album that could easily be enjoyed by everyone. The musicianship on the album is great as the guitarists are given the freedom to write some catchy and intricate guitar work. That being said some people may find that some of the songs do sound very similar and don’t offer anything new in terms of the indie genre. But who needs change when the old formulas can produce such great and catchy sounding albums like this.
3.5/5
‘Everything At Once’ by Stellar Young is out now via Bandcamp.
Stellar Young links: Facebook|Twitter|YouTube|Official Site
Written by Aaron Wilson (@soundslikeajw)
