Velvet Score
Youth

Reading the title of the album, one might suspect what one of the band's sources of inspiration is. . then by listening to it, this is confirmed, and one realizes it's not the only one.

Only 7 songs make up "Youth", the debut album of the Italian band Velvet Score, totaling 50 minutes in which the 4 guys create a sound worthy of respect. Not an immediate album, but songs that grow listen after listen, revealing new aspects each time; whispered voices at first, gradually rising... slow and hypnotic guitar arpeggios that repeat, bringing to mind Slint in "Spiderland", and often exploding in the end into distorted sonic whirlwinds. Perhaps this is precisely their strength.

"Crying on A Popcorn" stands apart from the general lines of the album for its melodic and incisive development; the stunning "Advice From Mars" instead grows on two voices to conclude with a "Please my ears/leave me soundless" screamed in anger. Good technique in the composition of the tracks and great arrangements, to which a remarkable songwriting also joins: "A guy wake up/ and realize that/ is still yesterday/ he's very happy/ and hopeful 'cause he/ has the opportunity of avoiding his mistakes" in "Summer Exists Part 1 (Morning)". Stories of youth indeed, or rather the illusions and dreams of youth. Yet another post-rock album you might say! Perhaps... if you want to waste time assigning labels!!

But I prefer to consider it one of the best albums of 2004, which apparently managed to cross Italian borders and be distributed in other continents as well.