Psychedelic pop is indelibly associated with images of the hippie 1960s. Bright colours, swirling guitars and groups like The Beatles and The Beach Boys going all out to sonically replicate hallucinatory experiences. While their cultural era passed, its experimental spirit continued to seep into the consciousness of rock and indie bands. In the bright flash of the rave era, bands like Primal Scream and My Bloody Valentine manufactured a potent update. During the 2000’s, Animal Collective kept the freak flag flying. And in the 2010’s, we are experiencing a full blown neo-psychedelic resurgence, centered around the stardom of Australian band Tame Impala and their leader Kevin Parker. This latest revival aims to find the trippy potentialities within the beats and rhythms of contemporary music, rather than just repeating the imagery of a bygone era.
The latest iteration of this approach are Cape Town’s own Youth Gallery. Their debut EP Tv Yellow offers four tracks of shimmering dream pop. The groups crafts a subdued, yet strongly emotive feeling. Their most accomplished song to date is ‘Off (My Mind)’, with its plaintive hook of “ don’t let me lose my mind” circling around an addictive guitar riff. The sweetly atmospheric track comes with a nocturnally themed video of the band drifting through hazy city streets.
Incredibly, for such a confident sounding release, the band only came together last year when Zachary Zonomessis and Aaron Page decided to hone their musical talents on this project. Although South African born and raised, they are focusing their efforts internationally, taking the bold step of decamping to London on the same day Tv Yellow dropped. From their new home base they are planning to expand their sound ever further, with a new EP and European tour all on the horizon.
