Young Marble Giants: Colossal Youth

Colossal Youth has cast a long shadow. Kurt Cobain was one of Young Marble Giants‘ more public fans, but their influence travels from their seminal — and sole — full-length album through such descendents as R.E.M., Yo La Tengo, and Belle & Sebastian to cause a shudder traveling up the post-punk spine.

The word “minimalist” gets tossed around a lot when discussing post-punk music, but Young Marble Giants are the real deal on that count: Each song seems a measure or a note from not being there at all. The package here is anything but minimal, though. This re-release comes in a double CD set that includes later material (including the Testcard EP, recorded after Allison Statton’s departure from the band) along with Salad Days, essentially a demo featuring rough cuts of many of Colossal Youth’s tracks.

Still, even at 41 tracks, the whole compilation breezes past with beautiful songs that rarely outlast two minutes or employ more than one to three chords. And it suggests so much scope and space that the songs beg to be heard while lying on the floor in an empty room, staring at the ceiling while contemplating a vast, uncertain future.

With nothing but a jaunty, comical organ, muted bass, stifled rhythm guitar, and Statton’s unassuming vocals, Young Marble Giants gave us one album and a handful of intriguing tangents. But like the brevity of their songs, the sparseness of their output leaves little room for disappointment. We’ve been given what they had, and it’s not merely enough-it’s nearly perfect.

- Lyam White
Young Marble Giants (Domino)