In 2008, Guardian music critic John Burgess wrote optimistically about the comeback of Balearic pop, citing producers like Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas as proponents of its revival. Last year, in the same publication, Simon Reynolds blamed the genre's transformation into an "overall banging boshing feel" for the decline of Top 40 pop, with "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz acting as the main offender. Listening to Chad Valley's debut LP, there's evidence for both Burgess and Reynolds' respective arguments: "My Girl" lifts a lyric from the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" almost verbatim, but "Fall 4 U" exemplifies Burgess' platonic ideal of Balearic, with Valley's voice curling like a saxophone against a pillowy, gently propulsive backbeat. On the other hand, you have the wince-inducing title track, which renders "banging boshing" 80s synth bass and wooden blocks in lurid colors.
"There's a hell of a lot of really awful pop music, and I actually really like it," says Hugo Manuel, the electronic producer behind Chad Valley and frontman of Oxford-based tropical pop group Jonquil. "I've grown up thinking pop was such a dirty word with bands like Steps, which will never even be ironically cool or good in a retro way." For the most part, however, Young Hunger's fat bass, bongo breakdowns, and Manuel's bell-like tenor sound closer to 1980s and 90s balladeers that might never be ironically cool or good, like Billy Ocean (especially on "Young Hunger") or George Michael.
In contrast to the cool Biggie bounce of Equatorial Ultravox's "Reach Lines" and the beach boombox-thick "Ensoniq Funk", Manuel sounds earnest on most of Young Hunger. After announcing, "Tell all your friends/ Tell everyone/ That all that I can think about is you," he closes "Tell All Your Friends" with an "ay-ee-ay-ee-ay" that's definitely more Taio Cruz than Prins Thomas. A few songs later, as smooth as Al Jarreau atop a bed of Peruvian flutes, he tells guest El Perro Del Mar, "You know I want to do this together/ You know I want to go far." She gamely responds, "You're so excited," with the coyness of the female part on Next's "Too Close".
The many guests on Young Hunger prevent the album from getting too bogged down in schmaltz, adding color and texture to the record. Album opener "I Owe You This" features Twin Shadow's George Lewis Jr.-- who, like Manuel, was tagged as chillwave until this year's Confess earned comparisons to bands like the Human League-- whose gritty lower register offsets Manuel's high, pure voice, but matches it in emotional weight, something that can't be said for Orlando Higginbottom of Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs' part on "My Life Is Complete".
The only track on which Manuel doesn't appear vocally (aside from the instrumental "Interlude") is "Fathering/Mothering". It's a simple track, contracting with heavy beats and minimal atmospheric synthesizers as Anne Lise Frøkedal of Norwegian band Harry's Gym carries verses about the womb. It also builds differently than the rest of Young Hunger, getting louder and faster in the way that Chad Valley's older material did, Frøkedal singing, "Getting louder than the sun." After the rest of the album's clutter of neon-hued effects, "Fathering/Mothering" provides welcome space.
"Manimals" closes Young Hunger, a similarly sparse and serious track featuring Active Child's Pat Grossi. His is the closest-- and slightly superior-- vocal match to Manuel, but his voice is shrouded in echo, as though he doesn't want to outdo him. Like Lewis Jr.'s contribution, it doesn't really add or detract anything vital from the record, but it's a nice touch among many. It's as though Manuel's afraid to let his numerous contributors take the spotlight, too often cluttering their voices with synthesizer effects. These flourishes generally add up to a record that's, as Manuel suggests, "good in a retro way," but when Chad Valley loosens his grip on the keys and lets space rather than noise carry his songs ("Fall 4 U", "Manimals", "Fathering/Mothering"), the album soars instead of floats.
