Listen: Young Dreams - "Of The City"

After releasing their impeccable debut album Between Places back in 2013, Norwegian power pop outfit Young Dreams more or less got immediately to work on their follow up before scrapping it and returning to side projects and solo efforts while other ideas percolated.  Guitarist Chris Holm put out his debut record Kilos as well as worked on/recorded new material with his other band Bloody Beach while multi-instrumentalist Matias Tellez produced several tracks on Sondre Lerche's seventh studio album Please as well as Lerche's Despite The Night EP and forthcoming follow up record. But after some time away the sextet are back with brand new single "Of The City".

While Young Dreams has largely rooted itself in a summery indie pop sound, Between Places and its supporting singles reintroduced the band as a far more arrangement heavy incarnation than their debut singles "Flight 376" and "Dream Alone, Wake Together". "Of The City" instead focuses in on the band's tropicalia and psych rock influences for a particularly groovy jam. It's a nimble gallop rooted more in synth tones than the band's previous efforts without completely redefining the band's core sound. The orchestral flourishes are more ornamental in nature and the Rune Vandaskog led track avoids layered vocal harmonies in favor of much more straightforward vocal delivery and interlocking grooves but the band's sense of musical escapism is alive and well.  Considering it was originally meant to feature choir and orchestra on the band's discarded effort, the rework of "Of The City" finds Young Dreams leaning more into dance and rock elements than the chamber pop of Between Places without losing any of its balmy breeziness. It's a decidedly different approach than originally intended but the finished work is a testament to Matias Tellez production talents. There's no
telling if the newly recorded replacement album will follow "Of The City" all that closely stylistically but it's a hell of a comeback that's guaranteed to help satiate fans until Young Dreams release their new album next year. Until more details roll out, welcome back Young Dreams.



"Of The City" is out today via the band's own new label Blanca Records.