Young Galaxy: Swing Your Heartache

Young Galaxy is the latest signing of Toronto indie label Arts & Crafts, made well known now by their first signing, Broken Social Scene. This band is a twosome, although the sweeping sounds filling the band’s EP feel so big that you would expect more than just Stephen Ramsey (recently departed guitarist of Montreal band, Stars) and Catherine McCandless behind it. The three songs included here are spacey, Pink Floyd-ish numbers mainly featuring slow synth lines and vocal harmonies that are like smoke circles around you and actually had me lost in a whirlwind of reverb and delay. The third song of the EP, “The Golden Coin”, grabbed me back with the introduction (finally) of some pace, along with some guitars and melody. Included with the album is a note from the band that suggests these songs were chosen because they represent the range that will be found on their upcoming full-length set for release on April 24, but from this listen it’s not entirely clear what that actually means. Will we be lulled to sleep for the first half of the album and then jolted awake when they plug in some guitars? Let’s wait and see. The very association with Arts & Crafts is likely going to be enough to get this band at least one listen from most people anyway.