The Fountain of Youth Lagoon Runs Deep and Bizarre
Published
With an appealing oddness, Youth Lagoon’s recent show in Berlin brought the Savage Hills Ballroom tour to the German capital.
The third album of Trevor Powers, the man behind the moniker, continues where earlier efforts The Year of Hibernation and Wondrous Bughouse left off. Tracks build quietly with melodic build-ups, before reaching heavier choruses that juxtapose the stunning voice of Powers – vocals that sound as if they below to someone half his twenty-six years.
Moved to Musik und Frieden in Kreuzberg following the shutting down of Magnet Club, Youth Lagoon opened the set with ‘Officer Telephone’ – the first track from the new album. Backed by his touring band, Powers’ live music gives a slightly more distorted feel to that of the recorded material. In the live setting this works fantastically.
The vocals on ‘The Knower’ were haunting yet beautiful – even when performed live - and whilst the crowd was rendered silent by this, they had certainly found their voices by the time fan-favourite ‘Cannon’ was rolled out. Unfortunately there was no space on the agenda for ‘17’, arguably Youth Lagoon’s biggest track and one they obscurely tend to avoid performing live.
Courtesy of the plentiful cheap (and delicious) beer the audience tended not to mind however, and the silk-clad Powers was able to rattle through other older numbers such as ‘Sleep Paralysis’ and ‘Dropla’ that were warmly received.
Closing the set the way it was opened, Savage Hills Ballroom was again turned to; ‘Highway Patrol Stun Gun’ drew the curtain on the encore as midnight ticked by. The current success of Youth Lagoon’s European tour has resulted in additional shows being booked for early 2016 across the UK – definitely worth a punt.
Perhaps if we ask politely enough ‘17’ will get an outing.
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Image courtesy of Pop Press International.
