Family Average: 5/7

There was a time called “disco," when everybody was happy. Then, there was "indie rock," when everyone was very sad. Somewhere in the middle of all this, "synth pop" existed. Then, somewhere between all that space and time, Addy Edward existed as well. Then, in an even smaller space in an even smaller time, The Family listened to Addy's album and wrote down how it made them feel. Curious what they had to say?

Listen along on Spotify and read on to find out:

From a non-music maker’s perspective, I felt this was just a really good album. End of. While I drew comparisons to Animal Collective, these dudes have a glitchy electronic pop meets synth meets orchestra vibe that’s their own. I found the first song “Burns” to be underwhelming, and the constant ‘Hey Ohs’ on “Billows” to be a bit tedious, but the album as a whole made my ears pretty happy. There is a lot going on in each song, but it never proves overwhelming. Each one is heavily textured with a solid array of instruments, shifting melodies, and deft vocal harmonies. ‘Twas a good time.

5/7

I didn't dislike this album but I didn't love it either. Unfortunately you really need to connect, positively or negatively with your audience. If you don't then no one remembers you. I felt it was a bit over produced and lacked emotional investment from the artist. I don't believe they set out to create elevator music but that's what happened. They appear to be good musicians so i think they just need to connect with why they are making music and what they want to accomplish and hopefully this will ignite the passion thier music needs.

3/7

First impressions are important, and this album just completely won me over starting with the album cover. A pretty great concept going on here, and one heck of a bowl cut! Now, moving over to the title, Picture of Youth. Not sure if this was intentional, but my mind jumped to a Mitch Hedberg joke that I like a lot that goes something like  “Every picture of you is from when you were younger” . Needless to say, I was already in a good mood and the first song had hardly even started yet.

Before I could even get a breath BAM I was hit with sweet, beautiful synthpop. Ah Addy, you have stolen my heart. This is a genre that I have a lot of respect for. I could go into listing a litany of other synthpop kind of acts that I enjoy, but they would not have much in common with this album or even one another. That's because the albums that stand out to me do stuff to introduce new ideas to the genre. I would have been charmed, but underwhelmed had the album been your run-of-the-mill synthpop album. This was not the case here. Stand out tracks like “Half a Dollar”, and “Shadows on the water” (which even kinda dips into a drill and bass kind of sound) kept me invested through the whole thing. Addy also has a lovely voice, just wanted to get that in now that the review is drawing to a close.

6/7

Picture of youth sounds like ... hmmm. I am finding it hard to review this album. The dude clearly knows what he is doing with his music. I just didn’t enjoy the direction the beginning of the album took me. It was then at the song “Half a dollar” where the listener was given some catharsis. I think its because it lacked the bells and whistles; I just got to hear a nice song. Thankfully the mood stayed for the remainder of the tracks. And so it left me thinking that maybe the album came out too hot? Part of me thinks that the beginning and end feel a bit disjointed.

Can’t say I would listen to the whole album again. But I would revisit some of the later tracks. 
 

4/7

Wow this was something. Very different yet comfortably familiar.

“Burns” I gotta say is the favorite for me here. I was affected. A bit like Animal Collective with all those noises. Ya know, sound effect music yet with the harmonious echoing vocals like Fleet Foxes. And that white noise in the background, goodness yes.

“Polyphony”, layers and layers of noises. So many creative sounds generated from seemingly normal noises. All types of noises. But yet there’s a sunny indie base to the general sound of the songs.

“Half a Dollar” stripped down to just their “indieness”. Simple guitar slides and such. “Put black inside my lungs and yellow on my teeth” “Time I don’t want it please” The echoing. I was looking for his little touch and there it is. Such a creative way to talk about cigarettes, this poem. Turned into a straight indie album towards the end, straying from the electronic-ness. But still incorporating lots and lots of layers of noises, more so with tangible instruments. I hope this artist is found. It will provoke some pretty thoughts.

6/7