Youth Lagoon’s Trevor Powers explores his past in his genre-bending seventh album, ‘Rarely Do I Dream.’
‘Rarely Do I Dream’ – Youth Lagoon
Core memories – those familiar places we visit as ghosts of our previous selves – are the foundations of who we are.
As we peer into the window of the past with our hands imprinted on the foggy glass, we observe cherished childhood moments at a safe distance while sometimes wishing we could be an active part of them again. Idaho-native Trevor Powers, the singer and producer behind the Youth Lagoon moniker, knows this feeling intimately.
After stumbling across a shoebox filled with home videos in his parent’s basement, Powers knew he found a treasure trove. He spent a week sorting through the memories and recording his favorite moments off the TV.
Speaking on the encounter, Powers says, “When I took the tapes home and popped in the first one, it was my brother Bobby and I at the state fair. I was 4 years old choking on a corn dog.”
He laughs, adding, “If anything’s a summary of life, that is.”
Trevor Powers understands on a spiritual level the ironic nature of life. Following a severe over-the-counter drug reaction in 2021 that left him mute and relying on pen and paper to communicate, Powers feared he’d never speak again. During that time, he leaned on a newfound faith in God. It became a turning point in his approach to life and to music.
The past few years for the singer have been spent working to find his voice – literally and figuratively.
Youth Lagoon’s 2023 LP, Heaven is a Junkyard, served as the singer’s reintroduction to music. A homecoming. And now, fast-forwarding to the release of his latest record, Rarely Do I Dream (via Fat Possum Records), it seems Powers is in a mode of reinvention. He’s giving himself room to experiment while still remaining true to his core.
In regard to the new record, Powers says, “Any time I’m horrified and on a knife-edge creatively, I know I’m doing something right. I need that feeling of knowing I could either be making the greatest thing I’ve ever made or something so bad it could be career suicide. Anything short of that, I’ve failed myself.”
Poised, nostalgic, innovative. These are words that come to mind when describing Rarely Do I Dream.
It is a cinematic listening experience from beginning to end. It’s tough to compare it to anything else; this body of work stands alone.
The opening track, “Neighborhood Scene,” is almost tangible in its liveliness. Like many songs on the record, it features audio clips from Powers’ home videos that have been thoughtfully woven into the music. Exhibiting dark vocals, driving drums, and dreamy piano riffs and synths sparkling throughout, the song sounds alive, as if it has a thumping pulse. It creates a world in which the listener is able to walk alongside Powers through the trail of his most vivid memories.
“Do I, do I belong in a country house?
Every angel and devil
out marching on the lawn
Do I, do I tell Tom
that I saw his dad at the
‘No Romance’ bunny match?
Cowgirl ain’t his mom”
– “Neighborhood Scene,” Youth Lagoon
Trevor Powers’ songwriting, though intricate, leaves vast space for interpretation.
Rarely do his lyrics tell the listener what to feel. Powers plays the role as the narrator of his own observations, allowing us to pick up the pieces and put them where we see fit. Walking a tightrope between fiction and reality, Powers leaves it up to the listener to decide what is real and what is fantasy. He makes space for us to find ourselves within his stories.
In “Seersucker,” a standout track on the record, Trevor Powers showcases his gift of making the personal feel universal. With piano-driven instrumentation that grows more lush and grungy by the second, “Seersucker” delicately takes your breath away.
Although it’s quite grave in subject matter, the song isn’t completely hopeless. It merely explores the parts of youth that leave a lasting impression, such as one’s first experience with grief and its rippled effects. It is a nuanced and deeply moving story of love and loss.
“Every song that Mama wrote,
Pop learned to play
When the old piano broke,
the music went away
Cold revolver in his coat
killed Jesse James
Jesus Christ, we’re doing alright,
we’re doing alright”
– “Seersucker,” Youth Lagoon
Music can be a portal – an open door into a past realm or a brand new world.
With Rarely Do I Dream, Powers invites us to cross the threshold with him. For a moment in time, we become young again and can see the world through a fresh pair of eyes. In this space Powers has curated, nothing is objectively good or bad; everything just is.
When speaking on the intention behind the album, Powers says, “I wanted to make an album that feels like life itself.”
And it’s safe to say he accomplished exactly what he set out to do.
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© Tyler T Williams
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