Halfway through Young Galaxy's night-ending set at the Marquee Club, things weren't looking up. The bass was drowning out the textures in the mix. Songs like "Pretty Boy," which float on record, never really left the ground. Catherine McCandless' icy intensity as a vocalist, usually a strength, just left me cold. A broken string during "In Fire" threatened to derail the set entirely, if not for a generous audience member who just happened to have a set on him. Aside from that close save, it felt like nothing was really working right.
But then: a turn, and in the most unexpected of places. On this year's Ultramarine, "Hard to Tell" is an also-ran, but live it gained space and depth, with a slow-burning outro that seemed to rejuvenate both the band and the crowd. An equally transformed "Cover Your Tracks" followed and, from there, the set soared: "Fall For You," the glorious "New Summer" and a joyous "We Have Everything" that had McCandless all smiles and the crowd in full-on dance-party mode. In the clutch, Young Galaxy pulled through.
But then: a turn, and in the most unexpected of places. On this year's Ultramarine, "Hard to Tell" is an also-ran, but live it gained space and depth, with a slow-burning outro that seemed to rejuvenate both the band and the crowd. An equally transformed "Cover Your Tracks" followed and, from there, the set soared: "Fall For You," the glorious "New Summer" and a joyous "We Have Everything" that had McCandless all smiles and the crowd in full-on dance-party mode. In the clutch, Young Galaxy pulled through.