Review of Electric Youth’s Innerworld : Lush and Suprising

innerworld. Photo by Vanessa Heins

Article by Angela Watts.

Electric Youth is a duo from Toronto formed by Austin Garrick and Bronwyn Griffin in 2009. They have been dating since the earlier part of their teenage years and together create a heavily ’80s influenced dreamy, spacey synth-pop/rock, with Griffin providing the vocals and Garrick producing their songs.

Despite the very nostalgic feel to their debut album, Innerworld, the duo wants to make music that will withstand the test of time and survive beyond their turn in the limelight. “Our interest in the pursuit of [the] timeless is not about nostalgia, it’s about longevity,” said Garrick in an interview with Rolling Stone.

Innerworld is equal parts euphoric synth-pop, ’80s anthem, and wistful vocals. While it would have been easy to fall into a lazy rehashing of ’80s trance-inducing beats, Innerworld brings a fresh and modern twist as is best exemplified in “Without You” and “Tomorrow”. Their music is infectiously catchy yet manages to avoid sounding kitschy. Much of the credit should go to Griffin, whose effortlessly lush vocals compliment Garrick’s synths. The two take turns weaving in and out of focus during the length of the album, at times blurring together as in the exquisite “Innocence”.

While many of the songs are quite easy to dance to, “If All She Has Is You” stands out as being quite the opposite. The song presents itself as a ballad, but halfway through the chorus the track feels almost like an incantation, a haunting chant of sorts. Here lies the beauty of Innerworld – the tracks all beautifully mesh together while remaining unequivocally unique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkWiPBX28Ok

Before Innerworld, Electric Youth partnered up with College to create the enchanting “A Real Hero”, which was part of the soundtrack for the 2011 movie Drive. The scene in which the song was featured perfectly depicts the general sentiment of the album – imagine a blissful, exhilarating drive through sun-drenched L. A., the windows rolled down as a warm breeze engulfs the inside of the car. If you like dreamy, melancholic synth-pop you can blast as you speed down the highway on a sunny afternoon, Innerworld is for you.

Innerworld was released on September 30.