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Mar 12, 2012 Web Exclusive By Laura Studarus

Young Magic’s music bears more multicultural marks than James Franco’s passport. Although, even with extensive genre hopscotching, debut album Melt rarely rises above the level of incredibly well-shot vacation photos—a vibrant experience you’re never fully a part of.

It isn’t for lack of want. An apt study of the post-Animal Collective school of music, Young Magic sprinkles tribal beats into euro, disco, and ambient electronic textures. The ingredients are top shelf and the pairings are unexpected. The rapped chorus of “Night in the Ocean” is accompanied by synths that stop just short of chill. On the flipside, “Sparkly” plays like a ghostly folk song filled with detuned guitars and disembodied choruses, while album closer “Drawing Down the Moon” is a modern day lullaby. The only song to truly go off the rails is “Cavalry,” its collection of discordant honks circling—but never truly approaching—anything that could be called melody.

So for all its winning ingredients and lofty ambitions, why does Melt feel like the work of a lesser DJ letting the music cycle through while on a smoke break? Repetition robbed of progression; themes are lobbed at the listener ad nauseum, until the whole thing is downgraded from “danceable” to “wallpaper.” An incredibly promising start, here’s hoping the next Young Magic outing includes exploration of a new sonic frontier: structure.

(www.itsyoungmagic.blogspot.com)

Author rating: 5/10