YOUTH PICTURES OF FLORENCE HENDERSON

The connection to that story with this recording is that the albums that I review each weekend are really the soundtracks to my life the previous week, whether my life is boring, tragic, amazing or whatever. Right from the first listen I felt that this was a special album. Instrumentally this is a Post-Rock album for sure but what did surprise me were the vocals which really make me think of Indie music. It's very uplifting and bright much of the time with lots of vocals, also a surprise. These guys are from Norway and this is their second studio album released in 2010. This recording is divided into two sections with the first called "Puzzle" worth close to 32 minutes and the second section called "The Detective" worth around 34 minutes. There are four songs in each with some amusing titles so lets have a look.

"Lets Rent Bikes From 1942" opens with picked guitar, atmosphere and drums as the violin joins in playing over top. Enjoyable stuff. We don't get vocals until just before 2 minutes. "I'd Rather Listen To Weston" has a beat to start as picked guitars join in. Such a feel good song as the vocals arrive. Some noisy Post-Rock styled guitars arrive before 2 minutes as the vocals stop. It settles quickly but then builds. The vocals are back after 3 minutes and the focus is back on them before 4 minutes. "He Can't be Dead, I Got His Autograph Last Week" has bass and drums leading early on as the guitar joins in then vocals. A fairly melancholic mood here. Violin 5 minutes in as it settles back. Spoken words end it. "To Sit Down Or To Follow, So I Follow" has these beautiful picked guitar sounds as drums, violin and more join in. Vocals before a minute and it picks up after 1 1/2 minutes until they are kicking ass. A complete calm 3 minutes in and it's gorgeous after 6 1/2 minutes. Children can be heard as it ends.

The second section begins with "Our Door Handles Stopped Moving Years Ago" where we get atmosphere as the drums and guitar join in. The vocals bring back sad news. Why does this move me? The violin leads 2 1/2 minutes in. "The League Will Never Let This Albino Kid Win" is a bright feel good track with vocals. The vocals stop as we can hear a female talking. Lots of droning violin over top of the upbeat sound. A triumphant final minute to this one. "I Think E.T. Is Involved In My Family" is very Post-Rock-like as the violin comes in over top. Vocals after 1 1/2 minutes as it settles some. It kicks in hard before 2 1/2 minutes but it's brief. How beautiful is this when it settles back. Check out the guitars 5 1/2 minutes in. It's so intense when it kicks in after 8 minutes, the most powerful part of the album. Insane! "Scientists Now Think This City Is Overdue" features guitars and sampled voices and children singing. Vocals before 2 minutes as the drums also join the guitars. Violin too. It brightens and becomes lighter a minute later which is my least favourite part of the album. It does change back though. Picked guitar only after 6 minutes but the drums and violin return. Violin to the fore and then it turns intense after 9 minutes, vocals too.

This is such an enjoyable album for me, so uplifting, it makes me smile just like the band's name. 4 solid stars.

This is a very good Norwegian band, whose music offers a great post rock sound with that inherent indie/alternative sound that brings so many emotions and images to one's mind. And this is a 2012 EP named "Small Changes We Hardly Notice", where we can find four tracks with a 5-6 minute range that make a total time of 22 minutes. It starts with "All I Remember is Punk Rock", whose sound is actually melancholic, but shiny, I mean, the atmosphere is not sad but hopeful, very emotional and very beautiful. The rock element is evident, with the classic line-up of bass-drums-guitars, but they also add horns and female backing vocals that together put a very emotional, post rock oriented song. It is a great way of starting this beautiful EP.

"Hearts & Consequence" is in the same vein, in moments they remind me of Efterklang, due to the cuteness of the vocals, the horns and the clean sound. I love where the song becomes more emotional, rockier at the same time, with some beautiful disarming guitars here and there. The name of Sigur Ros might spring to your head when listening to "But Now You Know". This is yet another emotional song that combines melancholy with beauty, brightness and hope, its aspect does not only get stuck in your ears, but also in your eyes, since the music is very visual. It is like feeding your soul with a pretty mixture of emotions, very beautiful.

Finally, "Swim Team Philosopher" is a bit slower, but basically the structure and what it produces on me is the same, I mean, the EP is like a circle, all the songs are equally good, equally tasty, equally beautiful, which of course, speaks great of Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson.

I've been listening to this EP so much lately, it is magical, and helps me feeling better in my everyday life. That's the power of music.

Enjoy it!

The great thing about Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson is their somewhat unorthodox approach to post-rock. They have a sound that is deeply infected by the emo and post-hardcore music scenes but is still clearly post-rock. In this way, they create something that is interesting to listen to, emotional, catchy and epic all at once.

Their self-titled record was a good example of that sound and that album was a masterpiece, but here YPoFH's sound is a little more evolved and a little more interesting. The addition of horns and female background vocals immediately had a profound effect on the music particularly the opening track "All I Remember is Punk Rock" which is literally one of my favorite songs of the year. Also worth noting is the heartstring plucking orchestration in the background of songs like But Now You Know that sounds like Sigur Ros at their most emotional. Their sound has grown full as a result of the additional factors and this EP benefits greatly from it.

Each song maintains that spark that the opener has and you've got yourself a beautiful little EP, one that I listened to constantly this year and one that could be the best post-rock this year.

If you haven't checked out Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson yet, shame on you. You need to listen to them and what better way to start than this short and beautiful little EP?

Now this album is not completely bad, it does have some decent, relaxing music like all post- rock bands. But this album does fail pretty miserably at being distinguishable from other post- rock. If you've been exploring post-rock for some time, this album really doesn't offer anything new and it is quite disappointing I find. It has some enjoyable moments, but at other times borders on being just plain banal. I felt like I've heard this millions of times just on my first listen.

However, if you're just starting in post-rock, I'll admit this could be a good first look at the genre. It gives you the feel of what the genres all about. However if you've already heard a fair amount of post-rock, this album is just more of the same of what you'd heard. So really, it's hard to go beyond all this. This album is really what the 2 star rating was made for.

I love their s/t album to pieces but their debut just really doesn't have the same vibe that the other one does that make me love it. It seems to me like it's more acoustic and doesn't have as much of the Youth Pictures of Florence flavor that their next album has. Each track is exceptional nonetheless, Van Gogh Painted Himself... is an amazing track actually, but it just really isn't anything new in the post-rock repetoire. The other tracks are very reminiscent of Godspeed which is good BUT I would listen to Godspeed if wanted Godspeed.

A List Not To Be Read At A Wedding is a big highlight, sort of has a preview taste for the next album and if you're looking for the GY!BE flavor try out Yet We Continue To Build There, The Structure whcih is great as well.

Solid debut, but there were way better things to come.

Does it have enough difference from those albums to make it great? No it does not.

Is it still good? YES.

I find myself listening to this alot mainly because it's just decent post-rock. Nothing new really, just good old-fashioned (or post-fashioned) music. The atmosphere is the same as most post-rock albums, somber with a fleck of cynicism but something about it just makes me listen to it alot. It could be The band name (awesome name BTW) but I doubt it. Could be the song titles... Naw I've seen better. But what is it then?!

I still don't know. An element I cannot define lurks in this album, and I like it. It draws me to the album like a magnet attracts metal. Some things you just can't explain I guess.

EDIT:

After quite a few more listens (I can't stop listening) I still have not found a flaw in the album. If anything I've found more reasons to love it such as the fact that it sounds much more different than most post-rock contrary to what I thought. I love this album and the undefiniable element is still lurking in it. It deserves 5 stars, really it does.