HYG have released their debut self-titled album ‘Hopeless Youth Group’, an eight-track collection that traces the Canberra band from indie rock to post-punk.
It comes off the back of a steady run of shows for the four-piece, who have landed supporting slots for the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Lazy Eyes, among others.
The album begins with the almost-ambient sounds of ‘Awareness’, a slow-going opener that brims with psychedelic guitars courtesy of bandmate Mark Wilson.
He’s helped along by Lucius Culliton’s steady drums, which build gradually throughout the track as Sean Ryan’s whirring keys bring extra texture.
This purely-instrumental track provides a broad, atmospheric soundscape which HYG draw upon in later tracks, with ‘Tunnel Vision’ marking a clear foray into funkier, almost-disco territory.
Here, we’re treated to fuzzy guitar melodies and Oskar Urbas’s groovy driving bassline. There’s still a psychedelic quality to the track, punctuated by sneering and reverby vocals, but HYG’s meditative sounds remain intact.
An extended outro takes us back to this spacious ambience, before ‘Happy’ ushers in a sci-fi journey through the cosmos with theremin-like flourishes and hypnotic rhythms.
The word ‘journey’ is crucial, since HYG spend time crafting and sketching new contours of their sonic worlds with extended runtimes. While the album is anchored by this hazy, psychedelic feel, the band isn’t afraid to tread new territories.
‘Waves’ feels like a 70s-inspired surf jam cloaked in ambient rock — an ideal soundtrack for a road trip — while ‘What You’ve Found’ is perhaps the clearest indie cut.
It’s carried by airy vocal layers and sunlit guitar melodies so catchy they’re destined for earworm status.
‘Waves’ later slows down the pacing for an extended guitar solo outro, before album standout ‘Fear of Death’ delivers catchy refrains and a punkish, garage-bound feel.
We return to sunnier corners on ‘Tu Vas Quand’ which is instrumentally upbeat but vocally dark. This interplay between heavier rock stylings and spacious ambience is a throughline of the album, and established HYG as masters of a wholly unique sound.
Their efforts culminate on ‘Geneva’, which forefronts the vocal performance before morphing into the kind of angsty revelry you might hear in an aughties teen movie.
What all of it amounts to is an expansive collection of tracks that allows HYG to pull from a broad sonic palette, buoyed by psychedelic rock.
The feat is doubly impressive given that it marks the band’s debut; the follow-up to their 2022 project, ‘EP2’.
Listen to HYG’s new album ‘Hopeless Youth Group’ below.
