Sometimes you can try too hard
It’s easy to guess what Australia-based Youth Group is trying to achieve on its new album, The Night is Ours. With its slowly building guitar progressions and tangible melodies, you can all but see the amphitheatre lights in the quartet’s hopeful eyes.
But even with all of the effort, the album just never quite reaches the an effective level. In all of its aching desire to be epic and anthemic, Night ends up falling somewhere between the listenability of Keane and the cheesiness of a Broadway musical. Martin’s voice, while powerful and expressive, comes off as more as a hungry busker than a rock musician, and the melodic guitar parts more dull than inspiring.
Strangely, the most original and compelling musical nugget ends up being tucked away in the 25-second outro of the outrageous “A Sign,” where a hushed whistle weaves in and out of the softly-jangling guitars.
Everything else, it seems, simply tries too hard.