Go Farther In Lightness

Wtf? A good album on the user submitted list Its unheard of Ty for the disovery The National but good lmao

This album started out like an Australian version of a band like The Killers or something. The first songs were bombastic but didn’t quite live up to my favorite artists of this genre. I braced myself for 80 minutes of slightly disappointing music. Then somewhere in the first third the songs turned much quieter - maybe some Chris Rea undertones were emerging - and I started to really like them more and more. Then about halfway through I was hearing string pieces… when “Le Symbolique” blended into “Let Me Down Easy” the Gang of Youths had fully won me over. I started off thinking this was headed for a 3 rating, but found myself enjoying the album more and more as it went on. If I had a nit to pick it might be that I could have trimmed the runtime down a bit, but the high points more than make up for that tiny critique.

Adore this album, yet another that I would've strongly considered choosing as my pick. I found this album one day just looking through new releases on Apple Music, the cover intrigued me. Never heard of the band, but I downloaded it and listened on a flight. Pretty sure it altered my brain chemistry, I was blown away. There are hints of the National in their sound, but it also reminds me of Japandroids, a great cathartic rock band unafraid to lean all the way into sincerity and, for lack of a less pretentious term, "joie de vivre." This album is maximal, it's long, there's grand string arrangements and interludes, but the emotion is so powerful and if you submit yourself to it, it'll rock you to your core. Relatively unknown Australian band (at least at the time I discovered this) blowing the roof off. One of my favorites of 2017, and of the last decade. Favorite tracks: One of those instances where my list is most of the tracklist, but "Persevere" is probably my number one, followed closely by ""The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows," "Keep Me in the Open," "Let Me Down Easy," "The Heart is a Muscle," and "What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out." Album art: Really not much to it, a black and white photo of a woman sitting on a bed. She's got a distant look in her eye that intrigues me. Bold font framing with the title is probably what caught my eye years ago. Big fan of this one. 5/5

Oh now this is very interesting! Putting Australia on the map a bit more for other listeners, that's good. This might seem so out of pocket, but to me, this sounds like if Billy Joel wrote mid-aughts emo/punk rock songs. There's a gritty realistic storytelling element here that somehow reminds me of him. There's also something that reminds me of Lord Huron too. And that makes a bit more sense because they are contemporaries. Yeah, I like this quite a bit. A good album to loop through a few times. It does run on a bit long for my liking, probably could have been tightened up just a smidge. A wonderful and worthy inclusion!

I got a lot of 'The National' vibes, but less sad. Never heard of this band, but glad you made me discover them.

A Springsteen rock vibe early on evolves into slower, string-laden songs as the album progresses. The journey through the album as it becomes increasingly introspective and lush helps it hold the attention and justifies it's length, making it an unexpected treat. Rating: 4.5 Playlist track: Let Me Down Easy Date listened: 08/11/24

Incredibly surprised by the variety of sound in this, although I do wish it was a hair shorter. Good pick though!

Nice surprise. Much better than a lot of the ones listed in the original list.

Remove the melodramatic strings and cut the runtime in half and... I still wouldn't like it.

Easy to rate these albums when they are already one of your favourites from the last 10 years, modern day masterpiece.

Wow. Just wow. I knew absolutely nothing about Gang Of Youths before today -- guess that many acts reaching local success Down Under have problems getting known outside of Australia. And I'm really, *really" impressed. At first, I was afraid the length of this album would become a flaw -- that the obvious dynamics of the *stellar* first three tracks would get muddled by too many hairpin curves. The thing is, the changes of pace are not a flaw here. They are actually assets to maintain your attention until the very end -- even the orchestral instrumentals winking at Jacques Lacan, of all people. Interestingly, reviews about this album - whether negative, neutral or positive -- tell you a lot about the reviewers first, like a Rorschach blot. What I'm about to say will probably sound controversial, but anyone comparing the band playing on this record to Killers or Bleachers comes off as self-deluded in my eyes. Because for me, there is more soul, heart and brains in 30 seconds of this LP that there is in the whole career of said Killers. Same with Bleachers (at least as I know, I haven't delved into everything). Even comparing Gang Of Youths to The National, U2, The War On Drugs or Japandroids (er... what?) is awkward to an extent. Gangs Of Youths' music is as memorable as the one of those other acts, I guess, but it's also richer in awesome arrangements and melodies, and generally livelier. Which leaves us with the most obvious influences, and those comparisons sound true this time: they are early Arcade Fire (to an extent), and, most of all, Bruce Springsteen. Singer / songwriter David Le'aupepe readily admitted his debt to the Boss, evidence enough of his humility. This humility goes even further than that, since the man once suffered from impostor syndrome and unchecked forms of perfectionism. Reading that on the band's wiki, I instantly wanted to give the big talented guy a hug and tell him he's doing better on an artistic level than 90% of the so-called "rock stars" out there. At least on this terrific record. I don't have the time today to mention all the great songs in details -- "great" for both the music and the lyrics, most of the time. There's one in its second half I just *have* to say something about, the one whose chorus goes "The heart is a muscle / And I wanna make it strong." It's not the best song in the album on a lyrical level. And yet, just like David says, listening to this heartfelt AND bright record makes me want to strengthen my own heart, so that it can help me appreciate more beauty and humanity in life. Those feelings are precious, and when music triggers them, it's simply bliss. 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.5/10 for more general purposes. Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 4 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* include in mine later on: 7 Albums from the users list I won't include in mine: 8

Wow, I really enjoyed this. At first it reminded me of Springsteen, similar energy, which was really good. Then the songs started slowing down a bit and the strings came in and it just blew me away. 4 stars, will listen again.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Fear and trembling, Keep me in the open, Do not let your spirit wane, Achilles come down

This album comes so close to being incredible. It starts off with an almost Springsteen like heartland rock before moving though indie folk, pop punk, and modern indie rock influences. There’s a fair amount of U2 in there as well. I was really stuck by its earnestness as well especially in a time where it’s not cool to do so. It’s just a bit too bloated which is u fortunate because it has such potential.

Each song felt like its own story with unique organization. Some felt like rock, others had pianos and strings. Each was a journey. I wasn’t a fan of them all but this is an awesome conclusion. I know my brother loves this album so he’s going to be happy.

An album I've never heard and it was a brilliant blend of indie and hard rock.

Was a bit shocked this band was Australian because listening to them I heard influences from Springsteen and the Killers. Their sound is pretty similar to Bleachers with the spoken cadence singing and varied instrumentals that progress in tempo through the songs. Overall I enjoyed this quite a bit and think that Australian indie pop/rock is a great genre and many unknown bands are in it. I listened to this a few times and even some of their other music but this was their best work it seemed. Very good and enjoyable. 7.5/10

From the art and name, I was expecting some sort of grim, gritty post-punk. What I got was another Springsteen-worshipping indie rock band like Arcade Fire. It's... fine. Nothing I'd ever purposefully seek out, but nothing I'd swerve across seven lanes of traffic to toss into a ravine.

The music (especially the orchestral elements), lyrics, and voice come together into a perfect earnest package of pain and hope. Love this. Favorite: Keep Me In The Open, Achilles Come Down, The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows -- lots of them really.

Starts out pretty good, hits a transcendent level around Achilles Come Down, and then sort of outstays its welcome by being too long of an album. Overall a great time!

I liked some of this very much.

Surprised I haven't heard of this group before, but they seem to be quite big in Australia but haven't quite broken through elsewhere. Looking at where they've played here they played quite a small venue two years ago so they clearly haven't broken through. I enjoyed it but still, it falls into the trap that so many albums do which is being too damn long. Like yesterday's Big Thief album, you could cut a lot and make it tighter. It just felt like it dragged on and with some good snips would be a nice and tight 45-50 minutes. Otherwise I enjoyed it. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the original list: 4/5 (too long!!) Should this has been included on the original list: Another tough one. I think it's a similar to yesterday where I'm leaning more towards no, but I wouldn't be disappointed if it were.

I really enjoyed this. Heard so Maccabees in there, and if you squint, some Divine Comedy. A lovely little Thursday surprise.

The strings elevate this from a good indie album to a great one. Even if they stole one melody line from Sweet Child O Mine.

Definitely the album I know the least about so far, after commercial smashes from the Weeknd & Shania Twain. Thought of Gang of Four & Young Marble Giants (Colossal Youth) from the name, but so far it’s closer in sound to Arcade Fire and Bleachers. I guess Australian rock hasn’t broken into the Canadian mainstream as much as I thought, though they sure tried in the 80s (INXS, Crowded House) The man can sing- the partly-screamed vocals in “Atlas Drowned” sound like a different person than the baritone of “Achilles” I’m wishy-washy on music that is custom fit for a stadium, but as with Arcade Fire & U2, I find this very enjoyable. The emotional hills and valleys make the almost 80-min run time worth it HL: “Fear and Trembling”, "What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?", “Achilles Come Down”, "The Heart is a Muscle", "Le réel", "Say Yes to Life" later on March 31

Strong Springsteen vibes, it benefitted when it diversified beyond that sound. Quite a bit of it followed kind of a monotonous vocal/metric pattern that wore thin. I liked it generally but not quite great for me.

I would like to give this album 4 stars, but halfway the album gets band and unappealing. It could have been a great one.

Musically this was quite nice, with an emotional earnestness to the lyrics that's appealing if sometimes heavy. I find the pace to be somewhat plodding, but this improves by the back half of the album. "Achilles Come Down" was really lovely, reminding me of something you might hear by Rufus Wainwright. Thanks for sharing. Fave Songs: Achilles Come Down, Atlas Drowned, Let Me Down Easy, What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?, Le réel, Le symbolique

Orchestral arrangement were really nice, but it was just too long. 3.5/5 but rounding down because I was slightly fatigued by the end of it. Still a good listen.

A bit like The National, but without the feeling that you just took thirty kilograms of Ambien. Not the most mindblowing thing ever made, but sometimes some "pretty good alt rock" is all you need in life.

This is actually really good. As long as you listen 'as is' and not start thinking "this sounds like a multitude of influences mashed together"? But does that make it any less good? Maybe the art is in blending all the other bands and singers together and coming back with a cohesive sound. Plus this is the first Aussie band I've liked since 'Men at Work'.....

As in the first tracks there are singers or groups that are vocally similar, at times the songs become heavy, melancholic and dull enough to make you yawn, then they recompose and generally pass. 2.5 stars

This band is trying way too hard to be a glossy, modern-day Springsteen and ends up sounding like a cut-rate version of the Killers as a result. The instrumentals are executed well and I can see the vision, but this is still landfill indie at the end of the day.

The frontman describes Springsteen as one of his major influences, informing why I feel so supremely bored by what Wikipedia says is one of Australia’s 200 greatest artists

The double album's plenty going for it technically, but the core will remain melodrama. I read Gang of Youths as an alternate exvangelical strand: Identification with the music is the price of admission to it. While I want to see the project as perfect again, seams do show at this age. Uneven weighting isn't in conversation with the nods to Lacan; The end is the same basic idea as the beginning; The only place to contemplate is the same loud register. For all eighty minutes, though, strings tug on strings and the clichés are universal enough to avoid the trite.

The first 20 minutes or so are outstanding anthemic soaring stadium rock similar to Springsteen, Simple Minds, U2. The rest is less rocky and more pretty particularly the string arrangements, but not as special.

These guys are a household name in Australia, but I've never heard them until right now. It's... better than expected, tbh. It has that pretend-world-weary indie vibe that I roll my eyes at, but it's still catchy. 3/5.

It's starts out with some highly energetic songs with a bit of 'Springsteen meets Gaslight Anthem' vibe. Like that a lot! Album is a little on the long side, and halfway it sinks more and more into songs that are nice to the ear yet lack a true hook or edge. 3 starts nonetheless.

Indie rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Good, but could have done with editing down as it got a bit samey

Reminds me a bit of The National or War on Drugs with the occasional orchestral flair. Though there were some decent tempo shifts, the music did end up getting very samey over the long length of the album. Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane was the standout track for me. Overall it was fine but not enough strong tracks that connected for me.

The most popular song is also the longest song. It has a decidedly Beatles sound. To be fair most songs can probably be traced to a Beatles song somewhere.

Actual good heartland rock?

It sounds like Australian Bruce Springsteen and I feel like there is enough of him on this list.

Pretty good, have to revisit this.

There was like one song that I found myself enjoying but the rest of this was the definition of 2010s artsy fartsy indie rock that kinda sucks.