Yukon Blonde
On Blonde
Reviewed by: Brian Roser
The first thought I had when I started listening to the album was, ‘the eighties called, they want their album back’. My second thought was, ‘actually, this is pretty good’; tell the Brat Pack to find a new soundtrack for their latest high school adventure, I think I’m keeping this one. Yukon Blonde’s latest offering is heavy on the electronica, but there’s also some good old fashioned electric guitar rock and roll. Mind you, I could do without the ooweeooweeoos in the first song, but the rest of the tracks use them much more sparingly. To be fair, despite my cheap shots at it, the track is a good look at feelings of isolation in modern life and an excellent addition to the album.
The band is called Yukon Blonde, despite the fact that they are from British Columbia and none of them are blond. They started out in 2005 as Alphababy and changed their name a few years later after a shake up with the band. The band’s current members are Jeff Innes, Brandon Scott, Graham Jones and James Younger. This is their third album, not counting a couple of other EPs they recorded as well.
I gotta say though, I think some of their songs are a little stalker-ish. The song “Como” features the line “I don’t understand where you think the trouble is, so come home with me tonight.” I don’t know about you, but it seems to me like the girl hasn’t come completely around to consenting yet. Also, their music video for “Saturday Night” starts out sounding like Duran Duran and features dancing transvestites, along with a couple of dead(ish) clowns. I’m not judging; I’m just letting you know what you’re in for. The music is good and there is a healthy mix of pacing and tempo, so that the whole album doesn’t sound like one long track. I don’t think this is an album for the ages, but I do think it’s worth a listen.
Rating: Groovy
