Youth Group Reviewed
Youth Group
Casino Twilight Dogs
(Anti)
It wasn’t too long ago Youth Group were unabashedly cute, younger brothers to Death Cab For Cutie, despite the transpacific gap between them. When they were touring with DCFC (and receiving stewardship from Chris Walla), it was practically overkill.
Casino Twilight Dogs, however, moves past all that. Toby Martin, while still singing as if his eyes are closed and imagining a sea of lighters in front of him, has injected into his voice a dose of dour melodicism that used to come off as preening. How this will all translate into the cozy confines of the Empty Bottle, where atmospherics often go to die remains to be seen. “The Destruction Of Laurel Canyon” and the chiming “On A String” look to suffer possibly, though the tart “Sorry” and crunchy “Catching And Killing” are given enough lather by producer Wayne Connolly to survive in any environment.
— Steve Forstneger
Appearing: April 17th at Empty Bottle in Chicago.
