Youngster

Besides 'tweens, who's going to heart the precious, Petit Prince-like line drawings speckling the cover and insert? At first, an audio scrapbook to one's youth...from a late-20-something...seems an odd, perchance navel-obsessed construct. And at the very first, it seems Richard Colado's been separated at birth from the gaggle of cracked, boyish voices bobbing around a sea of acoustic/electric "indie pop." The lush refrain lapping around "No Future" creates a quick convert. I'm also lobbied by structural ingenuity, and a subtle theatricality somewhat reminiscent of early Bowie. Since Colado's apparently making deals with angels rather than devils, not everything radiates like the opener. But his merging of naivety with sophisticated turns invites consistent engagement (simple acoustic guitar here; a toy xylophone propelling an old sea shanty there; hand-claps bouncing into piano-synth and jaunty vocals on "Kid"). Staying aboard the toy train is recommended: along with the bittersweet "My Old Face," it would be a shame to miss the charming accordion/piano-trot of "Moving On." "Sometimes life can be so beautiful/All you have to do is let it," exults Colado. Thanks for the reminder.

• Album: Youngster (2010)
• Artist: RickoLus
• Label: Circle Into Square
• Songs: (1) No Future (2) Photographs (3) My Old Face (4) King Among Kings (5) Story of Love (6) Good Old World (7) Grog (8) Kid (9) We Never Had Much (10) Wall of Water (11) Cemetery (12) Moving On
Sponsored
Sponsored