Youth Lagoon

Add Date: September 27 

Artist: Youth Lagoon 

Album: The Year of Hibernation 

Label: Fat Possum 

Genre: Rock, pop 

Comments: At least in theory, Youth Lagoon's debut LP is a bedroom pop record; after all, Trevor Powers put most of the album together at home in Boise. But tagging The Year of Hibernation with that narrow-sounding label would be terrifically inaccurate. There's an awful lot going on here, from gorgeous, hazy psychedelic pop to slow-building, folk-infused songs (check out "Montana" or "Posters") that have drawn Powers comparisons to Perfume Genius, the nom de tune of Mike Hadreas, who made a splash with his Matador debut Learning back in 2010.

At its heart, though, this is pop music, and it's crafted so well that you can easily forget that this is a essentially a one-man show--as the promoter claims, the music sounds "as if [Powers] were joined by a 9-piece band..." But as accessible and catchy as the tunes may be, The Year of Hibernation is simultaneously a very personal, intimate effort. Back to the onesheet: "Hidden beneath the melodies is a voice that is eerie yet nostalgic. Powers claims his music is like letting people read his journal."

Read away--this is one of the best debuts of 2011, and Youth Lagoon might be the best act to come out of Boise since Built to Spill. Start with tracks 2, 8, 7, 1 and 3.