“I wanted to make an album that feels like life itself” says Trevor Powers the Idaho-based songwriter and producer who operates under the Youth Lagoon moniker. He adds that “Life itself is a thunderstorm” as if to prepare the listener for a bumpy ride.
As Youth Lagoon, Powers released three studio albums: The Year of Hibernation (2011), Wondrous Bughouse (2013) and Savage Hills Ballroom (2015). He then decided he was tired of the project and made two studio albums under his own name. The return of Youth Lagoon came in 2023 with the release of Heaven is a Junkyard, in 2023 .
Co-produced by Rodaidh McDonald, ‘Rarely Do I Dream’ took flight after Powers found a shoebox filled with home videos of family moments in his parents’ basement. Audio extracts from these tapes pepper the tracks culminating in Home Movies (1989-1993) which consists solely of old clips with a piano backing. “I was like a ghost in a lost memory” says Powers.
Impressionistic lyrics create an eerie atmosphere rather than tell straightforward narratives. It is Dream pop with a gothic afterglow.
The songs are peopled by mysterious drifters and hustlers, characters presumably drawn from the singer's own past. In Football we hear of a woman who “would fuck the preacher if he only paid enough.”
Speed Freak is described as ”a dark joyride” and takes us on a road to nowhere leading down some backwoods trail by the water for Gumshoe (Dracula From Arkansas).
Throughout the 12 songs there’s an intimate intensity to Power’s semi-spoken vocals which are not unlike Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous. The old meets new dreamscapes of Mercury Rev also came to mind.
Synths are prominent and the guitar playing of long-time collaborator Erik Eastman is also central to many tracks. This reflects the fact that Powers used guitar rather than piano as his main writing tool. Horns by Stewart Cole on Canary add another texture.
It’s like a series of anti-nostalgia trips into a half remembered past. Powers calls it “a dedication to all the parts of who I was, who I am, and who I’m going to be.”
