Young Machines, the

Gorgeous, lush, full, dramatic orchestral electronica with indie-pop vocals. Glitchy, metallic beats mesh with strings, guitars, other acoustic instruments. All a solid midtempo; lyrics are interesting, kinda sad and strange, or estranged. I guess the vocals are meant to be an ironic counterpoint to the gorgeous strings? But I think they work against the music, with the drony Blink-182-style repetitive vocal melodies. But the music is soo pretty. I am conflicted. If only there was an all-instrumental version of this album . . .
**1. (4:24) instrumental—xylophone melody, with strings,
*2. (3:32) FCC!—fuckin. Laid-back beachy harp with loud beats; vocals; messed-up dark section
*3. (4:20) begin with cinematic strings; add beats and lyrics (about movie kisses)
*4. (4:59) “Cheers”-like piano, warm-sounding; about sadness of estranged family
5. (3:48)FCC!—fuck. watery, lush, echoey, spacey, new-wavey, metallic
6. (4:47) child’s voice explaining bullies; minor-key spanishy guitars, quirky clarinets (vocals getting in way)
*7. (4:31) Lovely string quartet/beat combo, spacy towards end. Why must you sing over this?
8. (4:40) organ wavering, laid-back full sound
9. (4:15) percussive and dark glitchy, with pushing vocals, with wistful string quartet over
**10. (5:08) cinematic strings, buzzy beats, sustained piano, burbly space noises, dramatic end
--reviewed by mandy (La Chanteuse)