Youth Group

Casino Twilight Dogs

[3.5/5] The American release of Casino Twilight Dogs comes packaged with a question: Can Australian indie heroes Youth Group live up to the hype? After all, not every band get to tour with Coldplay, enjoy a number one hit single in their home country and be featured on Fox’s The O.C.-twice-all before most American listeners even know their name. Including the airy yet driving cover of Alphaville’s “Forever Young” that arguably broke the band stateside, Casino is a blend of deliberate, painterly sentiment and stream-of-consciousness experimentation that will no doubt find favor with fans of groups like You Am I and Death Cab For Cutie. Yet despite plenty of subtle charm and wistfulness, the band’s implicit pursuit of warmth occasionally veers off course to flirt with surprising sterility. Casino achieves that delicate timelessness demanded by today’s discerning indie nerds, but only intermittently; still, it’s got some beautiful moments. (ANTI-/EPITAPH) Ronen Kauffman