Neu Young Prisms

Before you listen to Young Prisms, forget what you might know about San Francisco’s music scene. This is not the indie pop of Papercuts or Girls, or even the garage psych of Thee Oh Sees, Weekend, or Royal Baths. Young Prisms belong instead to the shoegaze revival of recent years, which has brought us bands like The Daysleepers, Malory, and Engineers.

But unlike those bands, which tend to work in a more structured and pop-oriented format, Young Prisms make the kind of music that you can let wash over you. Their debut full-length, ‘Friends For Now’, is soaked in reverb, delay, and modulation. The 35-minute record is so fluid and atmospheric that it sounds almost like a single extended piece, full of swirling guitar work, strange drones, and hazy vocals.

This is not to say that ‘Friends For Now’ works only as background music. In addition to its more ambient tracks, the album also contains some driving shoegaze tunes: ‘If You Want To’ and ‘Sugar’ have a beach-influenced Jesus & Mary Chain sound to them, while the dreamy and dense ‘Breathless’ recalls Chapterhouse or perhaps even Deerhunter.

With other tracks, it’s not so easy to trace the influences. ‘Feel Fine’, for example, crafts a unique sonic experience out of oscillating synths, fuzzy and chorused guitars, and a steady beat. This seems to be Young Prisms at their best: shimmering walls of sound with thick textures and pummeling rhythms. Melody, which is often carried through distant vocal tracks, is definitely secondary, but that’s perfectly fine with the noisy shoegaze that Young Prisms create. Chances are, you’ll be so lost in the waves of sound that you won’t even notice.