Amid a glut of 1980s-indebted electro-pop, Toronto duo Electric Youth stand apart. Their glacial compositions offer far more than Empire Of The Sun’s empty gloss and M83’s breezy epics. Vintage-synth fetishist Austin Garrick and singer Bronwyn Griffin emerged in 2011 with ‘A Real Hero’, the dreamy waltz that soundtracked Ryan Gosling’s twilight cruising in Drive, and this debut album is inspired by films like David Cronenberg’s sci-fi horror Videodrome. The plot unfolds compellingly – escaping an unforgiving town on the silky ‘Runaway’, recalling heartbreak on ‘If All She Has Is You’ and staying strong on the Saint Etienne-like ‘Tomorrow’. Shot through with warm hooks, it’s a worthy retooling of old synth styles.
Electric Youth – ‘Innerworld’
Words by Matthew Horton
