In Review: Gang of Youths - "angel in realtime."

 

Gang of Youths have never shied away from grandiosity; they've built their reputations (and collected a fair share of recoil from some) through following every indulgence in their sound, peppering their discography with cinematic, sometimes overbearingly produced, songs and albums that long to become events, wringing every drop of drama to fuel their super-sized tales of personal crisis and tragedy.

It's not completely unwarranted given the events experienced, and they've done very well for themselves with this approach, but third album angel in realtime. feels much more poignant; a 67-minute tribute to David Le'aupepe's father, who passed away in 2018 just as his son's star was rising, angel in realtime. is the most dense, deep and emotional work Gang of Youths have released to date. Informed by the grief of his passing and the enigmatic nature of his life in perhaps equal measure, angel in realtime. is the complicated, towering story of Teleso "Tattersall" Le'aupepe and the questions left behind in his wake.

Gang of Youths have never been farther-reaching sonically as they are on angel in realtime.; in addition to their well-worn orchestral arrangements, electronics accompany many of the songs here as well, as do vocal samples, choirs and percussion. So much instrumentation fighting for attention at once can make for a stifling, unforgiving listen at times, but there are also moments when all that extra noise goes away, such as the stark, bare-bones piano confessionals brothers and hand of god.

That said, when the cacophony hits just right, the results are stunning; the first four tracks are vibrant and emotionally charged, just as heartbreaking as they are massive sounding. Lead track you in everything captures the ache of mourning with breathtaking accuracy, while in the wake of your leave speaks to the shock and numbness that sometimes accompanies grief. Early single the angel of 8th ave. addresses the way we rely on our loved ones to see us through our darkest moments, and returner tries to make sense of it all and sees its narrator attempt to figure out how to go on living as normally as possible, cheekily landing on getting paid and paying rent as primary goals.

angel in realtime. rarely gets to quite the same level of catharsis as it does in its early stages, and the consistency of the songs starts to waver somewhat around the time the story shifts to Teleso's point of view; to be sure, there are interesting sonic choices made along the way (like the breakbeats that punctuate the kingdom is within you, forbearance and the man himself, for instance), but things get just a bit maudlin and overlong by times, especially close to an hour in when one six-minute epic falls into another. All this grandiosity and sweeping orchestration threatens to undermine the album's grandest moment, as the aforementioned stark ballad hand of god transitions into album closer goal of the century, which swells under waves of strings and keyboards as it builds over its opening 150 seconds. Practically every trick in the book is pulled out on this one, and it's impressive in its scope and ambition; even though it's an effective epilogue, it may ultimately be just a bit too blown out.

I can't fault Gang of Youth for going all out; there are a lot of emotions to process when a loved one is lost, and you want to give as big a send-off as you can. However, angel in realtime. often focuses on bombast at the expense of the emotions surrounding it, and a heartfelt tribute washed out by its pursuit of epic proportions sadly blunts much of the intended impact.

February 25, 2022 • Mosy/Warner Music UK

Highlights you in everything • the angel of 8th ave. • returner