Formerly our premiere grunge rock export, Silverchair experimented with new instrumentation on their second record Freak Show in ’96 before expanding their sound dramatically with Neon Ballroom in 1999. Few would argue that this wasn’t due largely to frontman and songwriter Daniel Johns’ talent outgrowing its basic three chord roots. Young Modern then is something of an anomaly. Johns has taken what he accomplished as a songwriter on Diorama and refi ned it toward a simpler sound. The closest comparison is with those other audio chameleons Radiohead. Young Modern is to Diorama as Hail to the Thief is to Kid A, a distilled version with the rougher edges taken off. It has its moments of pure madcap genius like If You Keep Losing Sleep, but overall is more immediately palatable than perhaps Diorama would have appeared to a new listener. Notably though, the token tracks offered to fans of the band’s earlier work are absent, perhaps a sign that Johns is happier this time to just let the record fi nd its audience. It is also fi tting that string arrangements on the album are handled by none other than Van Dyke Parks, who seemingly has the taste for working with off-beat acts after contributing to Joanna Newsom’s Ys (2006). You can’t help but wonder whether he detected, as any careful listener might, echoes of his old friend Wilson among Johns’ compositions.
