The video for Young Guv’s "Crushing Sensation" plays like a failed Rocky montage. Inspired by the images of athletes posted around his apartment, singer Ben Cook rolls out of bed, throws on some sweats, and hits the streets. His heart’s not in it, though: He attempts some pull ups and listlessly swipes at a punching bag, but mostly he putters around the city, kicking snow, smoking cigarettes, and staring at nothing in particular. That same noncommittal attitude has carried through Cook’s many bands outside of his primary gig playing guitar for Fucked Up. He’s bounced from one flash collaboration or side project to another—among them Marvelous Darlings, the Bitters, Roommates, and Yacht Club—leaving a trail of demo tapes and 7-inches but never devoting himself to any act for the long haul. Some of those bands flamed out before they could realize their potential, others were probably never intended to have much of a shelf life, but each inched Cook ever so slightly away from messy punk and toward the tuneful comforts of power-pop, the jumping-off point for his full-length debut as Young Guv, Ripe 4 Luv. Tying some of the loose ends from his previous projects, though never too neatly, it’s Cook’s cleanest, most easygoing release yet, and far and away his catchiest.
Like every album released by Slumberland Records since its 2006 resurrection, Ripe 4 Luv is versed in the shimmery indie-pop of the label’s heyday years. But Cook is too restless to limit himself to any single musical tradition, so Ripe 4 Luv also detours into soft-rock slow jams, giddy new wave, and Prince’s hormonal R&B-pop. The title track is straight out of Dirty Mind, all bubblegum guitar and funk strut, while "Aquarian" sets its 10cc-style pillow talk against a mechanically cool, Sade-esque groove.
Cook has the songwriting chops to pull off all these styles. He’s ghostwritten for such unlikely big names as Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, and Maroon 5, so he’s never been as bound by punk orthodoxy as his years in the Canadian hardcore scene suggested. And unlike many indie acts that have moonlighted with soft rock and R&B over the last half decade—Blood Orange on Cupid Deluxe; Destroyer on Kaputt; Gayngs with Relayted—Cook isn’t too concerned with nailing the nuances of these genres. Instead, he captures the general feel, mines it for a quick hook, then moves on. He’s just not the type of musician who’s going to dedicate the effort required for a sustained, elaborate genre homage, especially when the gist will suffice.
Ripe 4 Luv is relentlessly sunny throughout its 33-minute run, though Cook can’t resist letting a little skeeziness in here and there. Behind its ringing guitars and Alex Chilton harmonies, "Kelly, I’m Not a Creep" disguises an unnerving portrait of an inter-apartment building stalker. The seven-minute closer "Wrong Crowd", meanwhile, stretches Young Guv’s throwback soft rock to the point of sleazy parody. The joke grows stale even before some Showtime After Dark saxophone arrives to close out the song. It’s the album’s only bum track, but thankfully it’s tucked at the end, and it doesn’t sour what came before it. Throughout Ripe 4 Luv you can sense that it’s taking every ounce of discipline Cook has to play these pop songs as straight as he does, so he can be forgiven for indulging a little kitsch at the finish line.
