YYY - A Tribute to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (2017)

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Written by Daniel Boyer, posted by blog admin

YYY’s A Tribute to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds revisits a seminal album release that, by 2017, should be considered every bit as canonical to our culture as Christmas classics and other iconic works from the first and second generation of modern musical and rock performers. The powerful imaginative hold exerted by this classic crosses generations – young Minneapolis musician Austin Carson, aka YYY, has set the bar high for himself with this audacious musical endeavor and the bevy of local performers he drafts as guest stars makes the case, however inadvertently, that the Minneapolis area remains a key hub for original American music in 2017. These covers are far from slavish imitation; instead, YYY aims at nothing less than fully re-envisioning Brian Wilson’s classic compositions for a modern audience. It sounds like hubris. The thrilling part is that it turns out to be anything but hubris because YYY pulls it off so compellingly.

He begins the album with “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” featuring the guest talents of deM atla S and we are confronted with an approach that’s equally faithful to key elements of the original while offering a deconstructionist take on the remainder. There’s a couple of crucial drum sounds in the song – he adopts a highly-charged, live sound during portions of the track while relying on more electronic percussion during the song’s second half. There’s an appealingly raw, emotive sound to the vocals that will hit home with many. Electronic music is a big part of what makes this such an idiosyncratic release, but it’s always placed within a larger context that contains nods to the traditional as well. “You Still Believe In Me” has a guest star as well, City Counselor, and her ethereally tinted voice is highly appropriate for the track. It achieves a surprising and entertaining near-orchestral grandeur despite the electronic backing and has a beautifully pensive vibe. “That’s Not Me” finds YYY going at it alone for the first time on the album and his love for the Beach Boys vocal arrangements shines through once again. When Carson errs on the side of following Wilson’s examples, it’s invariably expressed through fidelity to the vocal arrangements and melodies. He finds inventive new vehicles for these elements without ever betraying the song’s original spirit and infusing it with something of his own.

Another turn from YYY on his own is the song “Let’s Go Away For a While” and he structures this piece as a sultry, moody instrumental with a dollop of voice over attesting to her love for The Beach Boys buried in the mix. It’s built around electronic instruments, for the most part, but keeps a warm and alluring sound up throughout the song’s duration. Al Church provides a particularly affecting vocal on the eternally vulnerable “Sloop John B” and sings with such open-hearted feel that it spins a dreamy, dramatic web for the song. Echoes of the original version underpin this, like they do so many songs on this album, but they provide the same basis for YYY to stamp the song with his own individual brand of magic. His take on the original album’s crowning achievement, “Good Vibrations”, utilizes the guest talents of Fort Wilson Riot and the dueling male and female voices in this song make for a nice contrast. The song remains remarkably faithful to the original version while providing its own finish to the number. One of the most distinguishing parts of this release is how YYY resolutely avoids self-indulgence throughout the entire album and that artistry reaches its zenith with the final track. As tributes go, there’s nothing quite like this, but one listen to it will convince you that it’s far more than mere tribute.