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Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson - Unnoticeable In A Tiny Town, Invisible In The City CD (album) cover

UNNOTICEABLE IN A TINY TOWN, INVISIBLE IN THE CITY

Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson

 

Post Rock/Math rock

4.00 | 8 ratings

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siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator
PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
4 stars One of Norway's most popular post-rock bands, the hilariously titled YOUTH PICTURES OF FLORENCE HENDERSON may bring The Brady Bunch's 70s sitcom matriarchal kitsch to mind but delivers a sound far removed from any squeaky clean family friendly connections to Hollywood's idea of the idealisms of the American family. This band emerged far from the sunny beach friendly realms of Southern California and rather originated in the frigid city of Bodø, Norway which sits just above the Arctic Circle on Norway's northern coast.

Formed by four college classmates in 2003 attending Bodø University College (now The University of Nordland), YOUTH PICTURES OF FLORENCE HENDERSON began as a band without a clear genre with the demo covering everything from pop and country to punk and dreamy post-rock tracks. The band liked the post-rock sound so much that it won the genre lottery and thus the lads delivered their first release UNNOTICEABLE IN A TINY TOWN, INVISIBLE IN THE CITY two years later after recording the album's six distinct tracks in their school's bomb shelter.

Gathering influences from the myriad post-rock bands that preceded, YPOFH's first album eschews the excessive Midwest Emo aspects of its later releases and dabbled in a more pure post-rock ethos on UNNOTICEABLE. Consisting of dreamy post-rock cyclical loops infused with dream pop style atmospheric layers, UNNOTICEABLE features an Explosions In The Sky meets Mogwai style of repetitive guitar arpeggios, groovy bass lines and layers of synthesized accompaniments that give the album that frigid Sigur Ros type of iciness with vocals that evoke not only the Sigur Ros falsetto type of delivery but also the kind of gruff vocals heard in emo influenced indie rock bands such as Modest Mouse or Built To Spill.

Beautiful epic soundscapes emerge from nothingness to build from gently strummed clean guitars and a serene percussive drive. Spoken word sampling evokes a touch of Godspeed You! Black Emperor while the elegantly uttered lyrics dabble in a pinch of Bark Psychosis as well as monstrous reverberated swells that evoke the shoegaze of bands like Slowdive. Add to that moments of more energetic rock with increased tempos that add a touch of American Football or Sunny Day Real Estate only never allowing the more aggressive elements to derail the overall pastoral placidly of the entire experience. Beautiful melodies and haunting atmospheres propel the album into an emotionally charged procession through gentle rhythms which deliver a welcome warmth in the midst of the Arctic winter.

The band was an immediate hit in its native Norway finding it as the nation's top post-rock act as well as finding its debut release considered the second best album in Norway for 2005. While steeped in the traditional minimalism of post-rock with repetitive looping and lush inviting tones, YOUTH PICTURES OF FLORENCE HENDERSON also excelled in adding subtly diverse tempo changes, contrapuntal melodies and rhythmic shifts that offered satisfying climatic approaches. While not deviating significantly form the status quo of what post-rock offered in the early 2000s, the band nevertheless executed an interesting alternative approach that gave it a distinct style. While not quite as bleak as Godspeed nor as ethereal as Sigur Ros, YOUTH PICTURES OF FLORENCE HENDERSON found that nice little niche in between.

siLLy puPPy | 4/5 |

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