Childs
Yui

I had been wanting to write this review for ages. Probably, it's all the fault of that usual Freudian fixation that drives me to pen a new review every time I listen to something new, deserving, genuinely and naively cool, and then, looking around, I discover that no Italian has bothered to write a few lines about it, or maybe even just to listen to the album in question. Maybe it's better that way. If someone asked me, “How would you like future generations to remember you on Debaser?”, I would respond exactly like this. “I want to be remembered as the one who reviewed the stuff no one cared about but then, every now and then, among the few who read it, there were one or two who discovered something new and I felt like I had made this world better than I found it”. Aaaah, yes, like that! Well, I'm digressing.

Not much is known about these Childs, but maybe that's exactly what made them so fascinating to my ears. Just like the Russians The Same But 100 Times Better, the English When They Know You They Will Run, or the Swedish Ef (one of the few to have a page on Wikipedia), the Childs also belong to that group of bands that play atmospheric post-rock influenced by shoegaze, which you might discover by chance on YouTube, think they always do the same old stuff, and then suddenly find yourself listening to them in awe for hours. Yes, I would say this definition fairly captures the concept.

I don’t know why I was convinced they came from Japan. Maybe it’s because their sound aesthetics make them resemble Mono in a mystical-religious outburst, maybe it’s because the recorded voice amidst the guitar tones of “Mariana” speaks Japanese and persistently reminds me of Envy, maybe it’s because the title “Yui” inevitably reminds me of the young and pleasant singer from Fukuoka, maybe it's because I see the cover as an abstract representation of deep Hello Kitty conceptualism, or maybe I simply believed that playing certain things would come more naturally to the Japanese people than to those of other countries. The fact is, I was hugely mistaken. The Childs, in fact, hail from warm Guadalajara, in the western heart of Mexico, and their names, with accents and tildes, leave little to the imagination.

 Beyond the easy geographic and stylistic discussions about the combo, the songs on this platter not only flow pleasantly and are rarely boring throughout their duration (a rarity in albums of this genre), but they also leave something behind, both in the ears and in the heart. Simple harmonic and ambient cycles rest on notes and atmospheres so sweet and subtle that they seem to be written by a Christmas orchestra in a glucose overdose trip (in the good sense!). And not only that. The melodic taste of Childs is so sophisticated and elegant that, at times, it makes their tracks resemble the soundtrack of some cinematic masterpiece rather than the compositions of any emerging post-rock and shoegaze band.

What is most surprising about this album, making it truly notable, is this exquisite melodic search, this good taste that envelops every single composition with an almost celestial grace. Moreover, the band doesn’t settle for simply using guitar, bass, and drums, nor do they venture into violin or trumpet like our national Giardinoni. Instead, the protagonists are the keyboards and electronic sounds enriching the work with ethereal and dreamy atmospheres that cradle, captivate, and take you away with them.
Exactly what shoegaze should do, if I may say so.
These atmospheres sometimes seem so sweet as to be almost naive, such is the grace and delicacy employed to draw the listener into a magical, dreamlike dimension, akin to the sensation of dreaming of flying in the sky and escaping earthly pains and sorrows. Even the voice is never intrusive, and in its enveloping repetitiveness, it always seems more of a support to the journey rather than an element trying to dominate the sound bubble. In fact, even when the voice is solely that of the lead singer, it still feels like listening to a choir. Probably a choir of angels, or something like that.

Far be it from me to do a track-by-track of such a work, which, to be fully appreciated, should be listened to in one go, lying on a beautiful green meadow, admiring the blue sky and the seagulls fluttering here and there. I'll only say that some tracks stand out more than others for a particularly intense melodic taste. I'll only say that 4 songs struck me particularly: the title track “Yui” is a pure and sweet ambient/shoegaze trip, not at all harsh, which immediately encapsulates all the intentions of the album; the song form of “Marisal” recalls certain more formal post-rock, but for that reason, more effective; the keyboards of “Oliver,” broken by simply harmonic guitar cycles, remind us how simple it is to evoke emotions with humility; finally, the already mentioned “Mariana” is supported by a few acoustic guitar chords which, immersed in its electronic and choral atmospheres, enchant like never before. However, my description of the individual tracks ends here. The purpose of this music, and thus of every single instrument, isn’t about making one track more memorable than another, but rather to envelop the senses completely, and it should be judged through that lens. Soft guitars, delicate keyboards, angelic voices even in their exquisitely low tones, plump and elegant electronics, ethereal atmospheres, a true open-eyed dream.

I don’t know if the Childs can be considered a real promise of American and international post-rock, and I am even less certain if with future albums they will consecrate themselves to become reference points in the genre. The only thing I know (and that matters to me) is that listening to “Yui” was a genuine experience, helping me realize how much good and interesting material still exists within the intricate nets of the underground. Certain bands should be discovered, appreciated, and jealously guarded precisely when no one else seems willing to take an interest in them; and if the ultimate goal of genres like atmospheric post-rock and shoegaze is to captivate the listener's soul and heart and make them forget everything for a while, then this goal the Childs have understood all too well and have hit it spot on.

A little gem to discover, little by little.  Relax, close your eyes, and surrender your senses to this humble, little-known, and wonderful Mexican band.