Young People

It's interesting, yet not all that surprising, to learn that Young People singer Katie Eastburn -- when not recording or touring with the bicoastal, avant-garde duo (she lives in New York,; multi-instrumentalist Jarrett Silberman is in L.A.) -- is a dancer and choreographer. The band's brooding third album bears aesthetics...

By Michael Alan Goldberg

March 30, 2006

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It's interesting, yet not all that surprising, to learn that Young People singer Katie Eastburn -- when not recording or touring with the bicoastal, avant-garde duo (she lives in New York,; multi-instrumentalist Jarrett Silberman is in L.A.) -- is a dancer and choreographer. The band's brooding third album bears aesthetics similar to a modern dance performance: Its minimalist piano, percussion, bass, and very sporadic guitar parts are like well-defined bodies maintaining spatial separation as they snake around a vast, empty stage, retaining their individuality even when locking together; its drumming is often primal and intermittent, like the sound of feet landing on the floor; its compositions steer clear of traditional structure, making for two- and three-minute songs that are both beautiful and a little bit baffling. With a voice that's glottal and grief-stricken (in a numb rather than histrionic way), Eastburn's delivery compares to the quieter, more desperate moments of Cat Power, Mary Timony, or Polly Jean Harvey. On such grimly titled tracks as "Your Grave," "Heads Will Roll," and "Dark Rainbow," it makes this dance even more macabre.

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