Category:
Rock / Emo

Try if you like:
Doves, Explosions In The Sky, The Appleseed Cast

No matter how spoofy and gimmicky music gets, you can't ever turn your cheek on a generically named artist. Though the North Carolina natives, Gray Young, has been on the M.E. indie shelves since 2008, Staysail was my first experience with them.  After beginning the play on my media player, I began to open their artist profile and of course noticed immediately the RIYL to Explosions In The Sky.  Anyone who knows me, knows I cant turn down a band with a RIYL to EITS, so here we go.

We shall begin with the end, as the final tracks "Picture (Meridian)" and "Meridian (Picture)" are blended together like a Pink Floyd composition.  "Picture" begins with a clap and pacey backbone, but meanders for a mere 2+ minutes.  Leading kindly into the final track and probably one of the strongest here "Meridian", featuring a contrast of Alternative and Post/Rock. Back to the beginning, lead track "Ten Years" begins with a slow guitar crawl and transitions into a body-writhing drum beat. The verse takes over and you have your first audio of all gears going in Gray Young. Track four, "Unbound" starts with an acoustic layering and introduces the albums first Banjo feel.

One of the best tracks here is song six, "Seven:Fourteen".  Groove laden to begin with and blissfully paced and all instrumental, this is the goods of the release. But Gray Young is not just about progressive rock, as exemplified in the following track "Prescience". Featuring another banjo marking, this track has a slight vocal hymns and humble persistence about it. The track eight "Vermillion", gets right back on course with the meat and potatoes of their all-around sound, with that very same banjo type spicing in the background. This song collides with itself in the last 90 seconds to create a deep epic like closing. For fans of the proggresive sound, go straight to track two, "Inside/Outside". Like on most tracks here, the lead vocals are sort of Getty Lee'ed into the verse.  Eventually the song kicks into overdrive with a bolstering guitar solo.

Very much the goods of indie America, Gray Young, takes the melodic energy of EITS and melts in a subtle brand of vocals, much like Shuteye Unison.  This is a keeper my friends and foes.