Music Review // Liam Mour "Ode To Youth"

https://soundcloud.com/liammour/05-ode-to-youth //

When I listen to "Ode To Youth" I think about what it was like to be younger than I am now.  Isn't it strange how with every passing second we were younger before we are now though?   By the time I have finished writing this review- by the time you reach that final sentence- you will be older than when you first started reading this all.   The concept of time fascinates me and aside from the science of it all, I also believe that one thing which helps keep older people (like me) feeling younger is having kids because we can, in some ways, revisit our youth through them.

As an instrumental electronic song, "Ode To Youth" somehow finds a way to be both urgent and relaxing at the same time.  You could put this one on and go for a run or drive and it will help you keep awake, but you could also put it on when no one else is around, in the dark, close your eyes and just drift away in your thoughts and dreams.  Songs aren't always so adaptable to where they can create different scenes based upon headphones or speakers but Liam Mour has found a way to capture that here.

Though this song starts with just some synth tones, but then softer tones come in with beats in a "Knight Rider" type of build.  This reminds me of both Makeup and Vanity Set and Phantoms vs Fire.   The more elements it adds to the music, the more it grows- the pace quickens, the sound gets louder and really it just blossoms.   I imagine a lot of the first half of this song as the soundtrack to a plant growing, only in a video where it is sped up, as the seed becomes the stem, leaves and flowers.

It then drops down more minimal, slower as if to seemingly pause and reflect.  This is where I feel like a lot of memories of youth are found, for those of us who are older (or just feel older)   Laser shots come in with cymbals and the whole thing builds back up again but in a different way this time.  It reminds me less of flowers this time and more of a sunrise, as it just feels like we've gone from darkness into the light.   And it is that power- that creativity- which is found when listening to this song that makes it one you should experience at different times and as much as possible for various experiences of self discovery and joy.