Album Review

frYars – Dark Young Hearts

• 14th Sep 2009

Don’t be surprised if after the first listen of Dark Young Hearts your ears are bewildered and you’re left thinking ‘What the hell was that?!” It passes. Despite the misleading name, frYars is actually one man band Ben Garrett and the combination of his old fashioned, articulate vocals, which are a bit like Marmite, and electro synths along with dark peculiar lyrics make Dark Young Hearts an odd yet interesting listen. Ben’s unconventional tracks shouldn’t really work but curiously they seem to, in particular Lakehouse and Olive Eyes which are two of the most melodic and accessible tracks on the album but also feature some of the oddest lyrics like ‘You have a womb, you shall deliver me a boy’?! Dark Young Hearts is definitely a grower but it’s worth a listen and probably one of the most unusual new albums around at the moment.