Track Listing

1. Magdalen Bridge
2. Naughtiest Girl Is A Monitor
3. Soandso And Soandso
4. Last Night Of The Proms
5. Cannula
6. If You'd Seen A Battlefield
7. Shh You'll Wake It
8. Something For The Ghosts
9. Archive It Everywhere
10. Surtsey

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3717 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-17
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Fine debut from hard to categorise Oxford quintet
Youthmovies, formerly Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies have been around in one form or another for some time; their first single being released way back in 2003. However the release of Good Nature, their first full-length album, is timely as their links to the `band of the moment' Foals (Youthmovies singer and guitarist Andrew Mears was a founding member of Foals) and their accomplished live appearances have raised their profile considerably in recent months.

Good Nature comprises ten tracks over 60 minutes and in many ways further develops the sound of previous 2005 mini-album `Hurrah! Another Year...'. Elements of metal, jazz, punk and pop are blended in a way that is quite unique. Some tracks are relatively straightforward; lead single The Naughtiest Girl Is A Monitor for example, whilst others are far more `off-kilter' and (whisper it) progressive; music this dense really requires repeated listens for the complex melodies and hooks to emerge. The addition of Sam Scott on brass has allowed for a noticeably more ambitious sound and song structure.

Youthmovies rightly have a reputation as a compelling live act; fans will recognise much of this material as it has been played and refined live over considerable time; many of the tracks selected for Good Nature have appeared in radically different forms on the three volumes of `Homeless Musics' previously available as CD-Rs at their gigs.

Youthmovies' eclecticism is reflected in the array of bands they've toured and collaborated with; 65daysofstatic, Foals, Dead Meadow, Adam Gnade (with whom they released the intriguing `Honey Slides' mini-album in 2007), Hope Of The States, and ¡Forward, Russia! amongst others. Ant Theaker, former guitarist with the now defunct Hope of the States produced the album, whilst it was engineered by the god-like genius that is Bob Weston.

This certainly won't be to everyone's tastes, but is an accomplished debut, which rewards repeated plays. My only major criticism would be the poster, that came with my copy of the album; a truly awful painting that wouldn't look out of place on the front of a Marillion album.