andrew younker microchasm album art
Andrew Younker - Microchasm

Andrew Younker – Microchasm

Andrew Younker is a musician from Rochester Hills, Michigan. His latest EP, Microchasm, was put out recently on cassette by the folks at French label Hidden Bay Records (who brought us tapes from glider and Lunar Quiet). Younker describes the release as a “full-fledged make out sesh with God and this Sims game that we call ‘the Human Experience'”, a line that somehow captures his catchy, digitally-enhanced indie pop perfectly.

Shimmering effects open ‘Electric Chair’, like a neon reproduction of the northern lights blowing on a digital breeze, a vision of an impossibly futuristic 2017 from deep in the 80s. The song eventually morphs into a Phoenix-style pop song, and we get our first taste of Younker’s too-cool-to-care vocals. It’s an undeniable jam, and sets the tone for the record from the off.

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‘Totaled Ambulance’ follows suit, sounding simultaneously smooth and hectic and twilit, the soundtrack to some cool kid disco on a warm summer night, while ‘Eyes Turn Blue’ is another pop gem, the hip-swaying vocals sliding over smooth grooving instrumentation. ‘Down the Stairs’ veers all over the place, all sharp and boppy instrumentation and Younker’s mumbling deadpan vocals, before the come-down of ‘Sophisticated’, a glowing ambient track with gauzy vocals seeping in at the edges. This segues into the slow-grooving ‘Pretend Therapist’, which sounds like a heartfelt r&b track transported back a few decades, slinking down rain-soaked, sodium-glared streets.

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Microchasm is available now on limited glitter gold cassette via Hidden Bay Records, or as a name-your-price download from the Andrew Younker Bandcamp page.

andrew younker microchasm cassette tape photo