Album Review: Young Prisms - Friends For Now

I know I ask this all the time, but seriously. What is it about San Francisco? How is it possible that for decades, the Bay Area has housed some of the wackiest (and best) bands around, and these days there's no end to the sonic sorcery coming out of SF. Current case in point: Young Prisms. You might well remember how impressed with them I was after finally seeing them live last April. Guess what, my little kittens, not only do they slay live but their latest offering, Friends For Now, is rather special as well.

Friends For Now is a ten-spot of psychedelic wanderlust, undulating with an irresistable beehive drone and relentless, kaleidoscopic dreaming. If it's a particular mood you're looking to set, this record might just do the trick. Heavy soul pervades, and you learn soon enough that this band knows there way around some serious effects pedals.

Certainly on the My Bloody Valentine family tree, Young Prisms honor their forerunners with crackling, ferocious fuzz and hypnotic, honey-coated nearly indecipherable vocals (please refer to the spellbinding slow motion of the exceedingly pretty "Sugar" and the brief, sizzling "All Day Holiday" among others).

I've definitely got my favorites, such as the steady, warm glow of "If You Want To," foot-tappingly magnetic and full of lovely guitar loop-di-loos. "Eleni" is another song that's been repeated quite often in my house, expansive and powerful, swaggering swarthily under all that noise, guitars sharp to the point of cutting. And "In Your Room" feels like an epic, impossibly hulking yet verging on tremendously lovely. "Feel Fine" is gorgeous, like being trapped in a forever sunset, colors ever-changing and stars beginning to twinkle as the wall of beautiful noise takes hold.

Wherever they choose to roam, whatever rambling twists and turns they might decide to take, Young Prisms makes it all one hell of a ride. Just make sure you've got the volume cranked up good and loud.

mp3: Eleni (Young Prisms from Friends For Now)