Bands like Youngblood Hawke are odd. All of a sudden, they’re just there. Where did they come from? One day you just wake up and your local radio station is playing their song at least once an hour, then their super polished debut album is close behind, and next they’re playing massive festivals like SXSW (QRO recap) and Sasquatch! (QRO recap). Other bands work for sometimes ten years before they even get on the radio, let alone play festivals that big. Is it just another example of how the music industry is an anomaly and once you think you’ve got it figured out, it slaps you across the face? Or is Youngblood Hawke another manufactured band? It’s hard to know.
Our purpose is to discuss their debut album Wake Up, and do that we shall, it’s just that it’s hard sometimes to overlook these other indicators and give an album a completely objective review. So let’s get to it. Objectivity, here we come…
Okay, Youngblood Hawke. Yet another odd indie/pop band name, although one supposes that these guys can at least be credited with not having simply pulled it out of their collective rear end, in that Youngblood Hawke is the name of a popular novel from the 1960s by Herman Wouk, which apparently this band share an affinity for.
Musically, Wake Up is another one of those albums that blows its wad on the first song in that it’s the best and the rest, while catchy at times, don’t measure up. This song, “Rootless”, has a really happy sound with a driving beat that propels it into the stratosphere of catchiness. There is also the lead single “We Come Running”, which was good at first, but if you listen to any popular radio stations whatsoever you are probably sick of it by now. Another catchy song, the second to feature a children’s choir, actually (along with “Rootless”) is “Stars (Hold On)”. It starts off sort of mellow, but has a really catchy guitar lick and a soaring chorus that you can’t help but hum along to.
So what’s the verdict? Does Youngblood Hawke have any lasting power? Will Wake Up end up on any ‘Best of 2013’ lists? Probably not. Let’s face it, this is a decent album, but it’s too mainstream and sappy to appeal to the hipsters and it’s indie enough that many people will probably just write it off. At the end of the day, all we can do is give it a fair chance and form our own opinions. Go do that.
Youngblood Hawke – Rootless
