ISLAND - YESTERDAY PARK
ISLAND are here with their latest adventure in Yesterday Park, 12 tracks imbued with nostalgia and longing for a time once past.
Yesterday Park features 12 tracks imbued with nostalgia and longing for a time once past. Songs such as ‘Young Days’, imploring “where did my young days go? / This world is for the kids now”, captures the burning questions of growing through your twenties and leaving childhood memories behind. The insecurities of getting older resonate throughout the album – ‘Do You Remember The Times’ explores the realisation that life isn’t quite how you thought it would be when you were a kid (‘I said I’d be a spaceship pilot / but life’s a little different when I look around’). ‘My Brother’ reflects upon close bonds and times gone (‘you’re my brother, run for me’).
Sonically, this album was reminiscent of The National or Arcade Fire – whose producer, Mikko Gordon, in fact worked on the project. Likewise, Cigarettes After Sex can be heard on track ‘The Way We Love’, and Twenty One Pilots on ‘Everyone’s The Same’. Clean guitar riffs and arena-filling drums create an oasis of sound, carrying the listener with ease from track to track. This easy movement and urgent feeling make Yesterday Park an album for long drives, with propulsive bass and guitar on tracks such as ‘My Brother’ and ‘By Your Side’.
Nothing on the album, however, caught me by surprise – Yesterday Park can be placed safely within the genre of indie rock, a pleasant listen from start to finish but less easily distinguishable from others in the genre. Going forwards, it would be nice to see them push the envelope a little on future projects, experimenting stylistically and lyrically. The feeling, however, is there – nostalgia seeping through the lyrics and melodies, right to the final lyric: ‘such a shame to say I’ll always miss you / the dancer in my head’.
Francesca Dunlop
★★★★☆