Chill, low-key electronica-based music has become very big, with new artists popping up all over the place, all of the time. It should also be credited with more often being female-fronted than a lot of other styles of music. Montreal’s duo Young Galaxy have been around longer than that, evolving from ‘Canadian Invasion’ alt-rock of a decade-plus ago into chill, but meaningful, sounds with Down Time.
The low-key nature of Time is evident at the start with “Under My Wing”, with smooth vocals from Catherine McCandless. This is a relatively quiet record, and stronger for it in songs such as the following “Seeing Eye Dog” and beautiful loss on “Catch Your Breath”, “Show You the Valley”, and “Glowworms”. It’s also a rather extended record, averaging almost six minutes a track, which does take away from some of the power (such as the very airy first half of the nine minute “Frontier”).
Wife-and-husband McCandless and Stephen Ramsey have probably been making music too long to get in on today’s ‘Electronica Invasion’, which is a pity, as they are making beautiful, moving music.
