REVIEWSYouth Lagoon, ‘The Year of Hibernation’

8

• SPIN Rating:8 of 10

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Release Date: September 27, 2011
Label: Fat Possum

"It's just me in my room, with my eyes shut," sings Boise, Idaho-based multi-instrumentalist Trevor Powers near the midpoint of his debut album. The scant eight tracks here feel as fuzzily personal as those words suggest. But it will be more than Powers' palpable earnestness that propels The Year of Hibernation into a lot more bedrooms. Delivered in a frail squawk recalling Seattle singer-songwriter Perfume Genius, his coming-of-age songs carve intuitive, ?idiosyncratic paths (spidery guitar, buzzing electronics) to mountaintop indie-rock catharsis. By addressing anxiety, Powers conquers it.