Pale Young Gentlemen
Black Forest
Release Date: Oct 7, 2008
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: Science of Sound
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Album Review: Black Forest by Pale Young Gentlemen
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Perhaps one of the best Britrock records of 2008, a year which has seen releases from UK giants like Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Keane and Travis, comes to us special delivery from Madison, Wisconsin and the band Pale Young Gentlemen. Why give such a geographically-confusing label to the four pale young gentlemen and three pale young ladies who crafted these 12 lush tunes? The answer lies in the group’s union of endearing, melancholy melodies and gentle, pastoral soundscapes; in their sound, Pale Young Gentlemen capture the feelings that Great Britain’s overcast skies and bucolic countryside tend to evoke with more clarity and certainty than any band in recent memory. Black Forest (Tra La La) is an album that is modest in its aims, yet nearly cinematic in its execution; the band never shoots for the atmospheric hooks or spectacular crescendos produced by their contemporaries.
Based on rating 8/10
Boasting a moniker that could easily be used to describe the majority of the No Ripcord staff, Madison, Wisconsin's Pale Young Gentlemen is an indie band very much on the up. When Alan Shulman reviewed its self-titled début a mere sixteen months ago, PYG was just another unsigned indie band, albeit it one with a pretty cool name and a cellist. Now, with a clutch of enthusiastic reviews and modest sales under its belt, PYG is back with a polished follow-up, an extended line-up and, crucially, the backing of Madison's hottest independent label, Science of Sound.