Review: Electric Youth - Innerworld
By Erin Richmond, Contributor
[Secretly Canadian; 2014]
Rating: 7.5/10
Key Tracks: “A Real Hero,” “Innocence”
If the romantic relationship between the members of Toronto-based synthpop duo Electric Youth was a quintessential 1980s movie, the couple’s debut album Innerworld would provide the ideal soundtrack.
Bronwyn Griffin and Austin Garrick of Electric Youth have been dating since the eighth grade and they recently gave birth to their first child: an ‘80s-inspired dream pop album that is as fresh, endearing and catchy as one could hope.
Electric Youth first appeared in the limelight with “A Real Hero,” a collaboration between the duo and David Grellier’s own synthpop project, College. It is a synth-driven track that vocalizes 1980s old school timelessness and was featured in the 2011 neo-noir film Drive.
Three years later, “A Real Hero” resurfaces as the star track of Innerworld. Thanks to the duo’s ability to find balance between futuristic freshness and revivalist synths, the rest of Electric Youth’s 12-track debut is strong enough to stand on its own.
Innerworld opens with “Before Life,” a mood-establishing instrumental that lifts the listeners up off the ground and lands them onto a dreamy cloudscape. “Runaway” kicks off just before the album starts to get too sleepy. “Maybe we could just run away,” Griffin repeats, her crooning vocals carrying the song.
“Without You” drifts in and out of Garrick’s glossy, in-your-face synths, which somehow still remain pleasantly unassuming and are balanced by the coolly detached vocals of his counterpart. A breather follows a few tracks later with “She’s Sleeping Interlude,” in which Garrick’s synths take over and lead the listener back to the cool dreamland where the album started.
Electric Youth knows where its strengths lie; the album eventually floats up to the penultimate track, “A Real Hero.” The familiar track sounds especially fantastic within the context of the album, but leaves those familiar with Electric Youth’s past work wondering if this already-established track leads the duo to any new territory.
Certainly the utilization of “A Real Hero” takes the album to new heights. It seamlessly ties the previous tracks together for one dream-induced climax, but some might see it as Electric Youth riding the same wave it rode with College three years ago.
No doubt the long-term relationship between Garrick and Griffin reflects Electric Youth’s strength as a pair. Bronwyn’s glossy vocals and Garrick’s smooth synthesizers truly balance each other out; it is a relationship. When one end starts to drone, such as the synths in “Innocence,” the other half lifts the track back up, sending the album to greater heights before it dips too low to recover.
Innerworld is everything one could hope for from a dream synthpop group, although to some it may feel like an extension of Electric Youth’s previous work. Nonetheless, Innerworld stands out as a great album. It is carefully crafted without the pretensions of so many pseudo-'80s revivalists who bring shame to the name. It is fresh and endearing, and Innerworld wraps up as cleanly as a classic high school film.
