Young Galaxy

Just as shoegaze is making a strong comeback, especially in Canada, with bands like Braids, Fjord Rowboat and No Joy rediscovering their pedal boards, Young Galaxy staunchly release Shapeshifting. Deftly acknowledging the trend by bucking it, the Vancouver, BC trio's third LP is brimming with well-informed choices and a kingmaker delivery. On Shapeshifting, Young Galaxy craft 11 personality displaying tracks, while producer Dan Lissvik (of Swedish dub-electronic duo Studio) covers each with a healthy dose of glazed electronic haze and glossed rhythms. Songs like the impenetrably confident "We Have Everything" and the beat-happy, silly, stringent "B.S.E." show vocalist Catherine McCandless crafting musical masks when most others are content simply wearing them. It's albums as wildly charismatic, idealistic, enduring and liberating as Shapeshifting that helped make Canada a force in indie rock. Someone needed to carry the torch into the next decade; why not Young Galaxy?