Young Rival Interior Light & Show # 591

Interior Light is the third full-length album by Hamilton’s Young Rival. Released on Toronto’s Paper Bag Records, the sounds on this album have been described as “Roy Orbison tripping on acid with Ray Davies and Bradford Cox.” Found on the back of the LP this description goes perfectly with the term that Young Rival coined to describe the music created during the recording of this album, croon-psych. Produced by Graham Walsh and Young Rival guitarist/vocalist Aron D’Alesio, the band took their time when creating the sounds for Interior Light. Even the album’s cover has an interesting backstory. It was adapted from an old stained glass window from 1987 by Benjamin Nelson in collaboration with Young Rival bassist John Smith. This design was mixed in with an array of colours that compliment the music found on Interior Light.

“Carry The Weight” starts off Interior Light in a manic fashion with swirling psychedelic textures. As the bass drum, clanging guitars and fuzzy bass move back and forth between the slow verses and frantic choruses the lyrics “I’m not prepared to turn around/My feet are firmly on the ground” and “Carry the weight/If you want to” convey a sense of wanting to move forward while considering the weight of the past. This song exemplifies the new explorations that Young Rival take on Interior Light sonically and aesthetically. “Throw It In The River” comes in with wavering 80s sounding effects before the song’s strong melodies kick in. The song’s stop and start dynamics, watery guitar effects, sobering basslines, drums and choruses pull you in like an unavoidable current. The album’s title track is more straightforward with jangly guitars, a circling drum pattern by Noah Fralick and a breakdown featuring the bass work of John Smith that sucks you into its orbit. The vocal harmonies in the chorus echo the words “Fall, fall, fall, fall, fall apart/It’s coming together again”. Lyrically “Interior Light” portrays a world of characters that seem lost, as the main character is unaffected and content with who they are. “Elevator”, first released as a teaser single in 2014, brings up the tempo on Interior Light with its energetic locomotive guitar riffs and subtle psychedelic vocal effects. The solo builds even more intensity in the back and forth momentum created by this track.

“Living Like You Should” is another example of the depth of harmony that Young Rival is capable of. The song adheres to elements from the songs of The Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison while at the same time blending guitar lines that at times sound like they could be from The Cure. Lyrically this song like many of the songs on this album, bring in a series of characters that act a certain way to evoke a certain dramatic effect. In this case, “Living Like You Should” features two low-key characters that move at their own pace, but as long as they “Swing low together” then it works for them. A message of slacker positivity is brought forth in between this song’s in the pocket drum grooves, dominating melodic bass and hazy harmonies.

“Bent Out Of Shape” a track that has been compared to Deerhunter in some reviews, returns with the psychedelic/80s new wave sounds that develop as Interior Light progresses, “Let’s Get Together” comes in with crunchy guitars and distorted bass, while “Scruples” is more upbeat. Based on an actual person that visits a bar where D’Alesio and bassist John Smith work, “Scruples” is an up-tempo track that features reverb saturated guitars, vocals and pulsating bass and drums. “That’s Chemistry” ends Interior Light. The drums on this track played by Noah Fralick sound like they could be from a slower paced Devo song. The guitars and vocals take on more aqueous textures while the bass plays at a steady smooth rate. This track operates at two levels. Lyrically it brings up thoughts of heartbreak, but on another level the title of this song alone is representative of what has been achieved on Interior Light. The chemistry of Young Rival is undeniable here.

In 2012, Stay Young saw Young Rival expanding and building on their early garage beginnings by pulling in more textures. Stay Young added stronger melodies to the band’s dynamic mixing crunchy and watery sound guitar effects. Like the album’s cover, Interior Light adds more colour to Young Rival’s already established garage rock palette. With Interior Light, Young Rival gets more psychedelic allowing the guitars and melodies created to drift like the paint on a canvas.

Saturday Night Playlist:

1. Charles Bradley - Changes
2. Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Ain't No Chimney's In The Projects
3. Tymon Dogg - Time For Moving On
4. The Decemberists - The Mariners Revenge Song
5. Tea Leaves - Bipolar Skies
6. Paul Jacobs - Soul Catcher
7. Timmy’s Organism - Get Up, Get Out
8. Japandroids - For The Love Of Ivy
9. Library Voices - Zzyzx
10. Sleater-Kinney - You're No Rock 'n Roll Fun
11. Whatever Forever - Streets Ahead
12. Pistolrays - Rollin’ Dice
13. Bob Dylan - Tombstone Blues (Take 1)
14. Bob Dylan - Positively 4th Street (Take 5, Alternate Take)
15. Bob Dylan - Desolation Row (Take 5)
16. Bob Dylan - Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window (Take 6, Complete)
17. Cassie Ramone - Run Run Rudolph
18. Go For 3 - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
19. Devo - Timing X
20. Devo - Wiggly World
21. The Government - Information
22. Young Rival - Scruples
23. Young Rival - That’s Chemistry

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for December 19. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.