Young Rapids write the kind of indie rock that will appeal to fans of Blonde Redhead, Beach House, and post-Kid A Radiohead. There's traces of The Walkmen here too, but without Hamilton Leithauser's frantically strained tones. One minute the DC quartet layer psych squiggles and gently emotive synths to create a wall of wow, the next they're stretching their limbs and getting instrumentally expansive—no lyrics necessarily—but at their core they excel in the kind of tidy melodies that tug at you in all the right ways. Stream their second album Pretty Ugly, below (out on 3.7 via Chimes Records).
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