"I wouldn't mind dying at all," Catherine McCandless sings, "if it weren't for the songs I'd miss." And with that, "Youth Is Wasted On the Young" nails a sentiment transcendent: how the parade of pop-songs that play out through a devotee's life can feel less like the soundtrack to a life, more the life itself.Young Galaxy's latest single is a pitch-perfect piece of new-wave recreation whose pop-cultural references, rebellious-youth narrative drive, and pop-music-in-place-of-Catholicism sentiments remind me, in a deep way, of My Favorite, a forgotten turn-of-the-'00s band from New York who may, one day, be rediscovered as some cult entity. Referencing a half-forgotten outfit of little acclaim may not seem like much, but it's a huge compliment. Oh, and whilst I'm at it: it reminds me a bunch of The Organ, too.
"Youth Is Wasted On the Young" has that feeling of making pop-music seem as mythical as religion —its own religion— and it does so with wit, verve, insistent bass, and a ear towards the dancefloor. Young Galaxy pirouette through a run of references both lyrical (Skip Spence, the Velvet Underground, Joni Mitchell) and musical (The Smiths, New Order, Psychedelic Furs) in a way that both pays tribute to recorded audio whilst carving out its own niche therein.
Young Galaxy, "Youth Is Wasted On the Young"
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