Recently I was returning from Miami on a stormy evening plane ride. As usual, I opted for a window seat. For a brief moment, the moving cars, lights, and structures below resembled some sort of breathing circuit board powering some unknown giant machine. “Daydream,” a track from The Year Of Hibernation, the debut album from Youth Lagoon, pulsed through my headphones as a fitting soundtrack to the scene below. Youth Lagoon is the work of 22-year old Boise native Trevor Powers, who recently signed to Fat Possum Records and is due to release his debut LP The Year Of Hibernation on Sept. 27th. The multi-instrumentalist offers a brand of shimmering dream-pop run through a lo-fi filter that gives the album a melancholic slant. That’s not to say that The Year Of Hibernation doesn’t soar, but even at its most vibrant, there’s still a tangible sense of desolation. Powers deftly combines electronic drum beats, his distant/fragile vocals, and ear-worm arrangements veneered with a fresh coat of ghostly haze to create an album that operates on gorgeous juxtapositions. It’s both darkly introspective and infectiously uplifting. Lovely stuff.

Speaking of Fat Possum, they are having a $10 sale on almost all of their vinyl, which includes pre-orders of Youth Lagoon’s The Year Of Hibernation and A.A. Bondy’s upcoming album Believers. What better way to spend your disposable income? — Capt. Obvious

Listen:

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