Galleries - Young Wounds

Glasgow-based "epic pop" band Galleries have only been around for a year or so now; their sound takes this fact at point blank range and slaps it about the face a few times with a wet fish. A collosal backbone lays beneath the flesh of latest single Young Wounds, which fills listeners' ears with reverb-soaked pads and fragile, gentile flickers of synth.

The voice continues this trend. One may be tempted to question how this could possibly be pigeonholed, by the band themselves or otherwise, as "epic" - an electric guitar flickers into life beneath him on the second passing of the first verse, and by the time the piano kicks in, the song officially hooks on.

The vocals in the chorus, in combination with the snare-heavy drums and countertenor lead guitar, are shameless memory leeches - just try to forget it after hearing it. It's damn near impossible it get it out of one's head once it has burrowed its way through one's ear.

However, there are gripes with this song. Personally, I'm not a massive fan of the falsetto applied during the last couple of lines on the choruses; it sounds incredibly unconvincing, if in-tune. The song would, in my opinion be better off without it. But this is a minor gripe in the middle of an otherwise splendid record.

Young Wounds is available for free download at Galleries' official website: www.galleriesband.co.uk

JS