It might not be the most sensational trend-setting music revolution, but Postcard does represent a welcome addition to the count of heart-warming, easy listening records in contemporary independent pop music. Beach Youth is a young French band, Norman to be specific, and this can be considered their debut LP, after two long EPs.
The band has certainly a knack for melodies, implemented in a pleasantly jangle pop (“Two Bedrooms”) or softly post punk (“Farewell”, “Love Yourself II”) texture, but with a sort of poolside vibe to it (the Real Estate laid back melancholy in “Around Me”).
Certainly overall the record feels like something from some fifteen years ago, but frankly this is ultimately irrelevant, as there are some true gems in Postcard, most of all the brit-poppy single “A Changed Man”. Polished and accomplished tracks that maybe weren’t completely foreseeable from the band’s previous material. The sheer inspiration of songwriting in Postcard sometimes does not even need arrangements, as in “Say Something”, that sounds like a buried demo from some prominent 60s band.
What really cannot be completely reproduced from the album is finally a sense of disengagement, which is something rare to find in a compelling record such as Postcard.
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