Shows what we know – we always the thought that the sound of young America involved guns, hip-hop and spattery poo noises that come from only ever eating cheese that comes out of a can, but we're very clearly wrong.
Because Port Talbot three-piece The Voices are about to release their new album Sounds Of Young America and, if their record is anything to go by, the sound of young America is pretty much My Bloody Valentine. Well, we say 'pretty much' but we mean 'identical to' since that what the album actually sounds like. Still, The Sound Of Young America by The Voices seems to be the closest thing we'll ever get to a new My Bloody Valentine album, so the least we can do is have a look-see inside.
The Voices aren't the sort of folks who like to easily give themselves away – that much is evident from the band's website. Under the heading 'Biography' where normally you'd find, say, the names of the people in the band at least, is a single photo of the three band members and a short description about what The Voices sound like. Since you can play songs by The Voices on their website, that description comes off as a little bit redundant.
But we're not here to find out what the curly-haired one out of The Voices' favourite colour is, so let's do what The Voices obviously want and discuss the music contained on their new album The Sound Of Young America. In short, it all sounds like My Bloody Valentine except for two songs that sounds like Spaceman 3 and another song that sounds like the first Blur album. In that order.
There's nothing wrong with ripping any of those sounds off in the slightest – but The Voices tend to have more success when they're ripping off MBV. The Sound Of Young America opens with the title track and probably the best thing on the album – it's loud, hard and repetitive with the guitars screaming and the muffled vocals cooing in exactly the places they should be. Sure, if you illegally downloaded a dodgy version of it made from a looped snatch it'd sound exactly the same as the finished article, but isn't that sort of the point?
Sadly The Voices can't maintain this energy for the remainder of The Sound Of Young America, with I'll Always Be Within You When There's Nobody Left Inside and Second Wave sounding like Loveless cast-offs and You Broke A Heart I Gave To You being almost illegally similar to Revolution by Spaceman 3 (the same goes for Don't Let Go and Spiritualized's Let It Flow). Only You Shared A Smile I Thought Was True and closer Love deviate from this near-plagiarism theme.
So that's The Sound Of Young America by The Voices. Don't buy it if you don't like My Bloody Valentine or Spaceman 3 – and don't buy it if you like My Bloody Valentine and Spaceman 3 enough to own albums by either of them. But, hey, if you like My Bloody Valentine and Spaceman 3 and you haven't got any of their albums, go right ahead.