A Song For Friday: Youth Lagoon

Trevor Powers dares to dream and strikes gold again. Plus, new releases from Laura Cocks and Rapt.

As I noted in 2023, I’m a late adopter of Trevor Powers’ music, jumping aboard with Heaven Is A Junkyard, his fourth album under the Youth Lagoon name. The fact that it landed on my Top 25 confirms that this was an encounter that needed to happen. There’s a lot to talk about with Youth Lagoon, from the personal, poetic lyrics to the carefully crafted tracks, which value space as highly as sound. However, in my review, I pointed out that “ultimately, it’s the full package of sound, songs, and voice that resonates…”

The same can be said of Rarely Do I Dream, the fifth Youth Lagoon album, which came out today. The impetus for the collection came from a treasure box of home videos Powers found, inviting him to visit a hall of memories that resonate even if you didn’t grow up in Boise, Idaho, during the 80s. Powers’ upbringing wasn’t perfect (whose is?), as hinted at in a Bandcamp listening party where he mentioned that his very religious parents wouldn’t let him play Zelda. But there’s an overall warmth to the album that emanates from his voice, the musical textures, and the audio clips of family moments.

In any case, the man Powers became seems like a mensch. At an in-person listening party at Billy’s Record Salon a few weeks ago, Powers was engaged, approachable, and visibly moved by the reception to the album among the packed crowd.

Trevor Powers among the faithful at Billy’s Record Salon on February 3rd.

While he composed most of Rarely Do I Dream on guitar, keyboards still lead a lot of the songs, whether the tinkling notes of Football or the warm chording of My Beautiful Girl. Then there’s sequenced rippling that forms the backbone of our song for today, Perfect World, which exemplifies everything great about the album and the artist.

As that keyboard pattern continues along with atmospheric guitar (either Powers or Erik Eastman), bassist Gabe Noel and drummer Sam KS lay out a dead simple groove, making every note and strike count. When the song moves from the relatively delicate A section to the more intense B section, KS kicks it into gear with thuds on the snare drum, triggering heavy keyboard washes, grinding guitars, and a sense of inexorable forward motion. On the second go-round, the guitar makes a statement before the song ends with Powers’ voice floating out of the overlapping vocals to sing the chorus one last time: “I saw a perfect world, a perfect world appear.” I float right along with it.

As on many songs on the album, the lyrics are both allusive and elusive, with an aphoristic quality that may have you quoting them even if you don’t know quite what they mean. For example:

A year of space
At snail’s pace I learned to crawl
They salted me but I was saved by rainfall
No sound this ride except the radio on light
Shook like an extra on opening night

If you enjoyed Perfect World, more wonders await on Rarely Do I Dream. The last song, Home Movies (1989-1993), ends with Powers’ parents asking toddler “Trevvie” if he has a story. “Say ‘This is Trevor’s story,’” his mom prompts. “This is Trevor’s story,” the little boy repeats, almost daring you not to start playing the album all over again.

Find this song and most of the other songs for Friday here or below.

Also out this week

Laura Cocks - FATHM Their 2022 solo debut, Field Anatomies, was an extraordinary collaboration with five composers that landed on my Top 25. Now Cocks - already one of the most outstanding flutists of our time - stands even further apart with a collection of their own improvised compositions. While their technique is as fearsome as ever, incorporating voice, breath, buzzes, key sounds, and more, there’s a freedom and emotional engagement here that will invite in even a novice listener. Start with Illinois, which has Cocks’ swinging as hard as a one-person big band, their voice and flute blending in an exploration of rhythmic glory. Trust me, once you’re in, you will be IN.

Rapt - Until The Light Takes Us London native Jacob Ware, who has been releasing music under this name since 2018, got his start playing bass with death metal band Enslavement. While I’m curious about tracing that evolution, I’m also so glad to have come across him at this juncture as this exquisite folk-rock album is an absolute treasure full of heartbreak and gorgeous acoustic textures. Even though the press email name-checks Nick Drake, as soon as I started listening, my Raoul Vignal antennae went up. It turns out the French singer/songwriter plays on three songs so if you know Oak Leaf or Years In Marble, to name just two of his fantastic albums, you’ll feel right at home with Rapt. I know I do.

Note: The graphic above is based on a photo by Tyler T. Williams