From the first moments of Tender Tones new EP Youth Retirement Club the tones set a dark but hopeful mood. A dreamy synth tone starts that track that is very cinematic, in fact the whole track is. It’s like it was created for a specific scene in a movie. Male and female vocals come in washed out to remove distinctive voices and instead to just present the melody. Track 2 “Strangers From Ultra” keep the dreamy gothy indie vibe going, almost a Cure Disintegration feel but with lovely harmonized male and female vocals that are much clearer than the previous track. Everything about this band seems majestic. The chord choices make the song feel urgent and like it’s building but never getting to some cliché climax so that when it ends you are wanting more.
By track three “Red Lovers” it only continues to grow darker and seems at moments like a Bauhaus track and at other moments My Bloody Valentine but the vocals are very mid 2000’s indie in the vein of Phantogram or some other electro group. I love when bands influences are not so direct that you can say “this sounds exactly like this”, instead the band combines influences from the late 70’s and 80’s with modern influences. Overall it’s like they were hired to create a dark soundtrack to some new age thriller movie. When I said Bauhaus earlier I wasn’t quite sure if that was exactly what the band was going for but track four “Pay More Pray More” the goth influence is even more apparent, in fact if you told me this was a Bauhaus cover I’d believe you. By track 5 “Still White Noises” the EP continues to feel more 70’s and 80’s goth track by track. I am a little disappointed that some of the clever arrangements that appeared in the earlier tracks seem to be missing over the second half of the EP but also I realize spreading that kind of thing out helps you to avoid being a one trick pony. The later tracks are more straight-forward and would be great for any person who loves indiepop but is looking for something that has a darker vibe to it.
The band closes out the EP with a song in their native French tongue on “Tournee Au Japon” which translates to Japan Tour. The track feels a little brighter than the middle parts of the EP and but still has this interesting synth riff and darkness to it. I think this band fits a mood and I’m not sure I can exactly put it into words but there is a feeling and time of day that this EP goes well with. This is an interesting enough EP that I want to go check out the rest of their catalog. As this is one of the many albums I reviewed from Shore Dive Records it becomes more apparent the tastes of their label because this fits really well with what I’ve heard from their catalog.
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- Sam Lowry