“Go Farther in Lightness” earned Gang of Youths a whopping four ARIA awards in their native Australia but largely fell on deaf American ears and the rest of the World, which is strange considering it sounds like a Girl Talk-style mash-up album of every indie rock band thats been popular over the last decade. Over 77 minutes long , the record packs in a healthy mix of the Gaslight Anthem, the Walkmen, and its most obvious comparison, the National. The band breaks into a Springsteen stride by the second track, which sees frontman David Le’aupepe questioning his Christian faith, and from there they never break their pace. It’s odd to describe an album that debuted at number one in Australia as “overlooked,” the rest of us has some serious catching up to do.
Everything from modern Czech authors to ancient Greek mythology gets a liner note reference, but it’s the heartland rock scale-shift from grandiose (“a sky full of light”) to personal (“I am grieving the loss of myself”) that makes this a standout on the best Aussie album of the year. “The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows” is from the New Album “Go Farther in Lightness”
