Youth Group

Never mind about what is going to happen to Ryan and Summer, the burning question is what are bands going to do for marketing when The O.C. is cancelled at the end of the season? After all, it has worked so well for Youth Group, who might have remained a relatively unknown Australian band until their music was used not once but twice in the show and turned them into household names down under. The band’s third album, Casino Twilight Dogs, doesn’t demonstrate that the band are ready to stand on their own feet because it has the same type of homogenous blandness that many of The O.C.’s chosen bands possess. Like predecessor Skeleton Jar, the best songs bear more than a passing resemblance to Manchester band James, while the band’s friendship with Death Cab For Cutie has also had an influence on them. In fact, Chris Walla remixed their big O.C. tune, a cover of Alphaville’s ’80s hit "Forever Young,” which sounds just like it ever did, so there must be something about them, right? Youth Group aren’t a terrible band and Casino Twilight Dogs isn’t a bad album. But apart from providing a soundtrack to a failing television show that was never all that good, there’s nothing here to indicate that they will ever be more than just average.