Trevor Powers’ music project Youth Lagoon started in 2010 and 2011 saw the release of The Year Of Hibernation. The music Powers wrote felt personal, intimate, and at times fragile. His voice was a whisper above barely there; timid, squeaky, and with the feeling that he was reaching deep down for those words. The album was sparse, but felt as layered as it needed to be. 2013’s Wondrous Bughouse was the opposite; a densely-layered and sprawling psychedelic record that opened Youth Lagoon’s sound in ways you didn’t think possible, given the debut’s quiet and intimate nature. It showed that Powers didn’t want to be pigeonholed as just one thing.
After 2015s Savage Hills Ballroom Trevor Powers retired Youth Lagoon and released two albums of harsher, more experimental sounds under his own name. But after a year dealing with a serious health issue Powers pulled Youth Lagoon out of the mothballs and has released Heaven Is A Junkyard. It’s a welcome return to his intimate songs, and a fantastic singer/songwriter record that is his best yet.
When listening to Heaven Is A Junkyard I’m reminded of singer/songwriters like Blake Mills, Liam Kazar, and Sufjan Stevens. Artists that aren’t just interested in sitting in front of a mic and strumming an acoustic guitar. There’s a desire to build something in the studio; layered sounds, adventurous arrangements, and ornamenting the skeletal song structure into a full body. Trevor Powers does that on Heaven Is A Junkyard, while still retaining intimacy.
“Rabbit” opens the album with a touch of Randy Newman’s “Memo To My Son” in the loping and melodic piano line. This isn’t quite power pop, but it hints at the possibility of a full on power pop Youth Lagoon album in the future. Single “Idaho Alien” links back to Powers’ youth growing up a timid kid in Boise. The keyboard of past YL releases is replaced with plaintive, breezy acoustic piano and it feels right. It’s a sad, melancholy pop song that lingers long after it ends.
The gauzy, lo fi sound of Youth Lagoon’s debut is gone, as is the grand ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ aesthetic of it’s follow-up. What we have now is a perfectly mid-fi record; clear and concise that puts the emphasis on Powers’ voice and stories. I’m reminded of Mark Linkous and Sparklehorse. The tragic singer/songwriter that wasn’t afraid to go from beautiful balladry and harsh noise, sometimes in the same song. Powers captures that adventurousness here.
From the melancholy “The Sling” to the Baths-tinged “Deep Red Sea” to album closer “Helicopter Toy” and its subtle-yet-experimental uplift, Trevor Powers has made a powerfully personal and consistently engaging album. Heaven Is A Junkyard sees Youth Lagoon find newfound purpose and an exciting second wind.
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