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85. Sunlit Youth - Local Natives (2016)

Alternative

Sunlit Youth is the sonic equivalent of laying on a private beach, with the water gently lapping at the shores and the sun painting the insides of your eyelids red. Maybe you’re in a hammock and the wind is drifting through it, rocking ever so slightly as the birds in the trees sing you to sleep. It’s intoxicatingly relaxing, a certified product of California.

The LA-based five-piece would probably feel more at home back in the Sixties. They have a decidedly hippie-dippie quality to them at times which can be distracting, but by and large, their motive is purely to induce a state of calm. The album implores that we reevaluate exactly how much energy we’re wasting in the grind of 21st century life. “Coins” is a caution against participating in 9 to 5 drudgery, illustrating that, from the outside, going through the motions of a 40-hour work week is just as ludicrous as abstaining from it.

There are other vague jabs at crusty establishment types, but for the most part, Sunlit Youth is an honest celebration of the freedom of youth and it revels in the idea that this freedom might actually be something that can be carried well into adulthood. It’s certainly a hopeful prospect on the surface, disregarding the obvious Peter Paniness of the idea. But really, none of that even matters - just put on some headphones and chill.

*image; cover art for the album Sunlit Youth by the artist Local Natives