Maybeshewill – Fair Youth

At some point during Fair Youth, you’re going to feel absolutely knackered. There seems little point in denying the emotive vastness of Maybeshewill’s fourth full-length, particularly when its dizzying scope is perhaps its most impressive quality. It’s just too much. There’s no let-up, no give, no subtlety. It’s an album in dire need of a breather.

Go nutzoid, if you must, for the brass-swollen dramatics of In the Blind, or the soaring synthetic choirs of epic closer Volga. Gingerly sidestep any notions that these instrumental histrionics might secretly amount to little more than mood music for emo-vampire teen flicks. After all, this is catnip for anyone who yearns for an ear-boxing from The Big Music, as filtered through Trail of Dead, Minus the Bear and Mogwai. Do consider, however, the negatives inherent in too much of anything – grand though it is, Fair Youth has too much of everything.