09.02.13 — “Sunshine” by Young Prisms

Young Prisms

If you only listen to one song tonight, make it “Sunshine” by Young Prisms (2012, from the album In Between).
Young Prisms is a shoegaze/dream-pop/psychedelic five-piece band from San Francisco. I didn’t know anything about them until a few hours ago while I was wandering around some of my favorite places for discovering “new to me” stuff.

They’re on Kanine Records, which is a label that I admire quite a bit. They’re often compared to a bunch of This is That Song favorites in the shoegaze-y field. They’re a coed band. Even before I listened to a single note of their music, it was pretty easy to find a bunch of things to like about this band.

As it turns out, they’ve got a pretty wild story. After they’d released a couple of singles, and just before the release of their acclaimed debut record Friends For Now in 2011, Young Prisms went on a tour of the UK and they ended up getting stranded in London’s Heathrow Airport. For seven days, they were stuck there with a weather delay. People tend to get cranky in situations like that, and one member got something other than cranky. He attacked another member of the band with a knife and a leather belt. Jason Hendardy isn’t in the band anymore and you can probably do the maths on that one. He’s now in a band named Permanent Collection. Coincidentally, his girlfriend is the mastermind behind the very brilliant This Charming Charlie website, which takes old Peanuts comics and replaces the original text of the speech bubbles with Smiths lyrics. I digress.

Upon Hendardy’s departure, the core group of Matt Allen (guitar, vocals), Stefanie Hodapp (vocals), Jordan Silbert (drums) and Giovanni Betteo (bass, vocals) added a second girl to the mix in Ashley Thomas (guitar, vocals).

I’ve listened to a bunch of their songs today, and I’ve liked everything I’ve heard. Obviously, I don’t have any longstanding relationship with tonight’s song. It’s just one of the new ones.

“Sunshine” by Young Prisms

I love the reverb-drenched coed vocals and the Slowdive-y guitar effects. It’s like those parts of the day during late spring and early autumn when the sun is low and the shadows are long. And the birds are singing. And dewdrops are dropping. And everything is okay.

You can order In Between from the Kanine Records web shop here. Scroll down a bit to the Young Prisms section of the store and select your preferred format.

About dlee

North Carolina born and bred. I'm a restaurant guy who spends free time listening to music, watching hockey and playing Scrabble. I have a bachelor's degree in political science and I will most likely never put it to use. View all posts by dlee

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