After releasing a debut EP recorded with producer
Alex Bolpasis
that landed them on the
Shelflife
label in the Americas and
Make Me Happy Records
in the rest of the world, Athens, Greece's
Youth Valley
re-enlisted
Bolpasis
for their debut album. Citing inspirations including
the Smiths
,
the Cure
, and
DIIV
at their inception, the group seems to slightly turn down
influence while dialing up the others on the resulting
Lullabies for Adults
, a sturdy eight-song set that fortifies the atmospheres of their melancholy fusion of shoegaze and post-punk. A chiming lead guitar line and insistent repeated bass note start things off on opener "Jean Moreas," a tribute to the Greek poet and essayist (born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos). Crashing drums soon enter, and the bassline breaks loose into melodic syncopation before brooding vocalist
Joseph Powell
joins in alongside additional layers of shimmer with lines like "Tired of using my head/Trying to prove there's a meaning/Feeling the weight of the pen" on a song that might have felt at home on
's
Disintegration
. The lighter, still driving "Hurricane" makes more room for
Powell
and a bouncier guitar line, but
get closest to
Morrissey
et al. later, on "End Credits," which, along with phrases like "bottled neon lies," incorporates enough echoing haze and midtempo restraint to stand as a creation all their own. On the other extreme, the seven-minute, more-harmonic-than-melodic "Pegasus" envelopes itself in bona fide noise by the end, when a returning chorus of "Dive into this world of never-ending dreams" is barely discernable. Along the way, "I Don't Want to Go Out with You, Veronica," a collaboration with composer/electronic musician
Serafim Tsotsonis
, finds a bittersweet spot between noise and melodic jangle on a debut that, influences aside, impresses with its diligence and majesty. ~ Marcy Donelson