Wikipedia:

Young Modern

Young Modern
Young Modern cover
Studio album by Silverchair
Released Flag of Australia March 31, 2007
Flag of the United States July 24, 2007
Recorded Seedy Underbelly Studios, Los Angeles, 2006
Genre Alternative rock
Length 45:12
Label Eleven Records
Producer Daniel Johns
Nick Launay
Professional reviews
Silverchair chronology
Diorama
(2002)		 Young Modern
(2007)		 —
Singles from Young Modern
  1. "Straight Lines"
    Released: March 10, 2007
  2. "Reflections of a Sound"
    Released: July 14, 2007
  3. "If You Keep Losing Sleep"
    Released: October 6, 2007

Young Modern is the fifth album by the Australian band Silverchair, which was released on March 31, 2007. It is the first album to ever chart as number one on iTunes through orders taken for the album before its release.[1] Young Modern debuted at number one on the Australian albums chart on April 15, 2007, and spent four weeks in that position.[2] Young Modern also peaked at number eight on the New Zealand albums chart.[3]

Young Modern was Silverchair's fifth consecutive album to debut at number one on the ARIA albums chart, making Silverchair the first band to accomplish this feat in Australia.[4]

Recording and production

The band announced in 2005 that they had plans to record a new album in 2006. In 2006, work on Young Modern commenced. During 2006, the band played a limited number of shows to test the new material on live audiences. The album was rumoured to be a solo double album by Daniel Johns, who had already written enough songs to fill two albums. These rumours were later denied by Johns in the April 2006 issue of Rolling Stone.

Following the brief tour with his project group The Dissociatives, Daniel Johns made plans to release a solo album. While writing and recording home demos of his new songs, he decided that the recordings would better suit a group effort rather than a solo release. After reuniting with Joannou and Gillies, Silverchair then spent five weeks in the Australian Hunter Valley in late 2005 to practice and sharpen Johns' new material. Following this, the band recorded intermediate full band demo versions of the songs. To record the final versions of these songs, the band travelled to Los Angeles to record with record producer Nick Launay at Seedy Underbelly Studios. Johns co-produced the album alongside Launay.[5] During the L.A. sessions, additional songs were written and recorded. Van Dyke Parks was hired to compose orchestral arrangements for three songs: "If You Keep Losing Sleep", "All Across The World" and the 3 part epic "Those Thieving Birds/Strange Behaviour".[6] Johns and Parks travelled to Prague to have the orchestral arrangements recorded by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

The name Young Modern comes from a nickname given to Silverchair's lead singer, Daniel Johns, by Van Dyke Parks during their time working together on Diorama in 2002.[4] The album features various guest appearances from Australian and international musicians such as Luke Steele, Julian Hamilton and Paul Mac (who previously collaborated with Johns in The Dissociatives and enlisted both Joannou and Gillies for his solo album 3000 Feet High). The album was released on March 31, 2007; the first confirmed single "Straight Lines" made its radio and Internet debut on February 2, 2007. The album was released in North America on July 24, 2007.

Critical reception

Young Modern was received with great enthusiasm from reviewers. All Music Guide's review said the album contained "catchy melodic hooks, inspired lyrical themes, and stunning string arrangements", and called it the "pinnacle of the band's fascinating development". Reviewer Clayton Bolger heaped praise on most of the songs on the album, calling "Straight Lines" an "instant rock classic".[4]

Review website Xdafied was equally impressed by the album, and was the second site to praise the opening track, "Young Modern Station", stating that it "will leave you in awe at its refreshingly different chord progression". Xdafied's reviewer summarised the review by calling the album "a unique masterpiece".[7] Meanwhile, Rolling Stone reviewer David Fricke called Silverchair's members "young (in their late twenties)...[and] aggressively modern",[8] and Entertainment Weekly called the album a "polished glam-rock suite".[9] Sputnik Music reviewer Tyler Fisher also approved of the album, although he didn't think it was as good as it was made out to be, commenting "It is not as good as the ARIA awards will undoubtedly make it out to be but still one of the better mainstream listens of the year."[6]

Nick Pearson of PopMatters, meanwhile, was highly critical of the album. He began his review with the statement "Once you reach the level of intellectual maturity where you can tell the difference between cryptic but poetic lyrics and nonsensical crap, you have outgrown Silverchair", and continued in the same fashion throughout. Pearson likened Johns to Kurt Cobain, saying they share a common inability; "his inability to write lyrics". His only praise was for the third single released from the album, "If You Keep Losing Sleep", stating "'If You Keep Losing Sleep' is proof that Silverchair are capable of recording interesting music".[10]

Personnel

Silverchair

Additional musicians

Production

Track listing

All songs were written by Daniel Johns unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Young Modern Station" – 3:11 (Daniel Johns and Julian Hamilton)
  2. "Straight Lines" – 4:18 (Daniel Johns and Julian Hamilton)
  3. "If You Keep Losing Sleep" – 3:20
  4. "Reflections of a Sound" – 4:09
  5. "Those Thieving Birds (Part 1) / Strange Behaviour / Those Thieving Birds (Part 2)" – 7:26
  6. "The Man That Knew Too Much" – 4:19
  7. "Waiting All Day" – 4:28 (Daniel Johns and Julian Hamilton)
  8. "Mind Reader" – 4:28 (Daniel Johns and Julian Hamilton)
  9. "Low" – 3:48
  10. "Insomnia" – 3:06
  11. "All Across the World" – 4:01
  12. "English Garden" (iTunes only) – 4:23

Charts

Chart (2006-2007) Providers Peak
position		 Certification
Billboard 200 Billboard 70
Australian Album Chart ARIA 1 2xPlatinum


References

  1. ^ Silverchair #1 on iTunes! Accessed 14 October 2007.
  2. ^ Silverchair - Young Modern. Australian-charts.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  3. ^ Silverchair - Young Modern. charts.org.nz. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  4. ^ a b c
  5. ^ Young Modern Review. Jeremy Bustin. Justpressplay. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
  6. ^ a b Young Modern Review. Tyler Fisher. SputnikMusic. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
  7. ^ Young Modern. Xdafied. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  8. ^ Young Modern. David Fricke. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  9. ^ Young Modern. Simon Vozick-Levinson. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  10. ^ Silverchair - Young Modern. Nick Pearson. PopMatters. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
  11. ^ Silverchair Young Modern. CD Universe. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.


Silverchair
Daniel Johns · Chris Joannou · Ben Gillies
Discography
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