Events

[ROCK] As a band still in search of its sonic identity, recording Mind Over Matter presented more of a challenge to So-Cal’s Young the Giant than your average sophomore slump. After experiencing a noteworthy level of success with a 2010 self-titled debut, the five-piece blew up substantially with an appearance on MTV’s VMA Awards show in 2011. Front man Sameer Gadhia told Rolling Stone that the new album’s title was a mantra that got them through alternating episodes of self-seriousness and creative doubt—things that fame (and perceived expectations) often bring. YTG has delivered an impressive disc filled with musical possibilities that 2010’s “Cough Syrup,” didn’t even hint at. The driving prog-pop of “Amalgam” reeks of Minus the Bear in all the best ways, while lead single “It’s About Time” is fuzzy, lo-fi goodness tempered with a slick sheen. The densely mixed “Eros” is a smorgasbord of 1980s references that gives these guys influential backbone nowhere to be found on their debut. Young the Giant will play at UB’s Baird Point as part of the school’s Spring Fest lineup with In the Valley Below, Banks, Bear Hands, and Royal Tongues on Saturday, May 2. Free for UB students, $40 for everyone else.