The Edge

Gang of Youths debuted on the scene with The Positions, a 10 song album produced by Kevin McMahon.

The first song on the album, Vital Signs, starts light but gives a sense of the creative jams that follow. A melody of bass and drums overlaid with soft vocals give a nice sound that introduces the album well. For an intro song, over 7 minutes is too long. A good chunk of the song is just repetition of sound and is dreadful because of the length.

All of the songs are lengthy, which is too long for this style of music. If the songs were unique from each other, it would be acceptable to have over 6 minute songs, however this genre is becoming oversaturated and this is a poor way to set a band apart from the rest. If a song is going to be this long, it needs to have catchy hooks to keep me listening or it has to be a dynamic rollercoaster of sound.

This album would be great to purchase on vinyl to play in the background of a small party with friends, or for purchase to jam on a lengthy road trip, but not for individual songs. The lengthy songs would be appropriate if the album was much shorter than 10 songs, an EP perhaps. The songs blend and marry well, and are technically produced very well, with the exception of one song. Knuckles White Dry somehow snuck between the poppy, upbeat indie tunes. The piano ballad fits awkwardly but is an appreciated mix-up from the rest of the songs.

This album is for the die-hard indie fan who is looking for something to listen to while relaxing or busy with some other task. I would have enjoyed this better if it was a much shorter album, I feel like a release this size would have done better after they had established themselves on the scene a little bit better. Kudos to Gang of Youths and producer Kevin McMahon for putting together a technically well done album, but next time cut it down a bit. -Amber