You’d be hard-pressed to find much angry or angsty music from California, you’d think the majority of the music from there is specially commissioned by the Venice Beach Tourist Board.
Orange County’s Young The Giant are the latest touters of ray-drenched pop to swan straight off the boardwalk and onto the playlists – their second single My Body was a US radio hit thanks to a propulsive alt.rock kick and some ardent chorus raunch from singer Sameer Gadhia, coming on like a sex addicted Stereophonics.
But the overriding vibe of this debut album is that of the jazz-inflected, strum-happy Cali beach bum, although one with more rock in their heart than the average Nutini numpty. I Got and String sweep along like the hyperactive offspring of The Commodores’ Easy, Cough Syrup tackles the hopefulness of youth in the style of a scuba diving Vampire Weekend, and Islands provides a rare maudlin moment, presumably about arriving at the last of the Rizla.
As lightweight as a beach volleyball maybe, but undoubtedly the juvenilia of twanglesome titans.
