Young Prisms Friends For Now

Everything Young Prisms makes is wrapped in a thick, tight haze. It goes from mysterious to sunny and back again on every song, and often the only thing defining any melody is the reverb rich vocals and the driving bass. Delay and effects drape every song on the album.

The lyrics are barely audible, but it doesn’t really matter. The vocals serve more as a melodic mechanism than anything, and while it’s often excellent it does occasionally leave something to be desired. They aren’t even singing words on half the album. Most of the songs are incredibly simple, and rely on a steadily building amount of instrumentation and fuzz to build to their climaxes. When a specific section or instrument does manage to find its way out of the fog, it’s like a glorious burst of sunlight. Occasionally, all the fuzzed out melodies will split in different directions, then come back together louder than ever, in a joyously frenzied cavalcade of sound. When it’s good, it’s noise pop at its finest.

While there are no tracks that stand out as particularly disappointing, they will frequently repeat ideas and have a few songs that sound all too similar to each other. The lack of discernible lyrics, as mentioned previously, can make for a bit of a bore and makes some of the songs lack an extra dimension that could help them achieve a higher status. Also, I Feel Fine sounds an awful lot like Deerhunter’s Hazel St. Not a complete knockoff, but that’s definitely the first thing I thought when I heard it. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it, it’s actually one of the album's finer moments. It sounds inspired without being copied.

Young Prism’s is a standout in the slew of lo-fi, hazy rock hovering around the internet these days. They have made a marked improvement from their 2009 EP, sounding more assured and confident. Every song is played with enthusiasm, and it makes for a blissful, hazy experience.