Breakout 2007: Young Galaxy

07/09/09 12:33pm

by Cameron Gordon (CHARTattack)

Hometown: Montreal, Quebec

Sound:
Dreamy, swoony indie pop that calls out to sensitive sweater nerds and English majors everywhere. Not unlike Mazzy Star, Low or A Northern Chorus, the music of Young Galaxy is the perfect primer to a solid nap — in a good way.

Why?
There comes a time in every musician's life where they're forced to strike out on their own and really, truly put their songs, hopes and dreams to the test. That time is now for Steve Ramsay, a Montreal-based guitarist and founder of dream-pop duo Young Galaxy. The band recently signed to indie powerhouse Arts & Crafts and Ramsay hopes that his relationship with fellow A&C outfit Stars doesn't overshadow his own considerable songwriting efforts.

"I was [Stars'] touring guitarist for a few years and unofficial spiritual advisor, I guess you could say," says Ramsay. "I loved playing with those guys, but I definitely don't want Young Galaxy to be seen as another Stars side-project. It's inevitable that people will make assumptions and I'm hoping the music will ultimately speak for itself."

On disc, the band lay out a relatively simple formula built around Ramsay's spacey guitar work and the soothing vocals of both himself and the other half of the Young Galaxy equation, Catherine McCandless. The band will release their debut full-length this spring and the self-titled effort will be supported by a spate of live appearances over the first half of 2007.

Ramsay says that while his adopted hometown continues to churn out the goods when it comes to new music (both he and McCandless are originally from Vancouver), he feels the international buzz surrounding Montreal has subsided in recent months, meaning the city can once again celebrate local favourites without the outside world so much as taking notice.

"I'm not sure that Montreal still has that magical quality that was being written about two years ago, but that's not because of the bands or the people making music in the city. The thing about Montreal is that its music has never been based on hype and it has always been able to exist more or less independent of what's going on in other cities. Believe me, there is still a lot of uncharted territory for people to discover in Montreal and a lot of the best bands haven't even been discovered."

This feature is from the February 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, go to the Chart Shop.