Years Around The Sun are a band from San Diego. I reviewed their first album a couple of years ago (on BlogCritics) and was very complimentary.
Their sound is fresh and startling - anthemic melodic vocals, keyboards, punchy bass and drums. If you put this on in the car then you will be asked “who is this?” during the first track. Again I am going to make the comparison with The Go-Betweens and Grant McClellan’s songs because of the evocation of open space and melody. Listen to this excerpt to see what I mean:
Roundabout
Roundabout (clip) by Years Around The Sun
If I had to voice a reservation then it is that Years Around The Sun do sometimes get a bit “samey” with the consistency of their sound. And then they come up with a wonderful track like Heart Delay where the vocals are shared and the interplay produces a glorious sound of intricacy and passion.
Heart Delay
Heart Delay (clip) by Years Around The Sun
Years Around The Sun
Sometimes I think I just have too much music history behind me. I make comparisions that are accurate for me (and I do sometimes get confirmation from Big Dave of what I am hearing) but often the artists haven’t heard the bands I compare them to.
Have you heard The Go-Betweens on the “Before Hollywood” album? The track “Cattle and Cain” was astonishing and even NME agreed with me on that point. This release (EP or LP) by Years Around The Sun is like a band who seem to have taken that track as their starting point and swathed all their songs in that immaculate evocation of space and stasis. Every single guitar note is one that The Go-Betweens would have wanted to have played. The melodies are Pop but not the vacuous sort. They intrigue and draw me into their musical world.
This is a sort of magic. Not only do I get a reprise of the spirit of Grant McLennan but on Dead Man’s Sea I can hear Nico’s voice singing. I know that this is not a review but just a personal statement. I can’t tell you that “Introstay” will be a great record for you. But if you don’t get your emotional heart torn out and thrown around by Years Around The Sun then you are beyond redemption as far as I can see.
Years Around The Sun
