Young Galaxy Album Coming

Montreal's Young Galaxy will release their sophomore disc, Invisible Republic, on Aug. 25 through Fontana North.

The 10-track follow-up to the band's 2007 self-titled debut was produced by Besnard Lakes vocalist Jace Lasek and and Radwan Moumneh (A Silver Mt. Zion), and was mixed by Tony Doogan (Belle And Sebastian, Mogwai, Delgados). Recording took place in Vancouver at Howard Bilerman's Hotel2Tango and Lasek's Breakglass Studio.

"We wanted to be sure we could [record] it in a way that allowed us to hear what we felt when playing together," says vocalist/keyboardist Catherine McCandless. "It needed to sound like the chemistry we were feeling in the previous year of touring and in the collaboration of writing the songs.

"We don't try to say anything hip, really, or hide anything we feel inspired about for the sake of appearing more detached. More hope than heavy, though!

"I think that in writing about what is meaningful to us, that combination of looking seriously at the world and our actions in it, combined with feeling totally in love with so much about life and music and each other, helps our lyrics carry that hopefulness innately."

The band drew upon a very different set of influences while creating their second album.

"The first record was very muted and internal in a way," says guitarist/vocalist Stephen Ramsay. "We wanted to make this record more extroverted and 'awake'-sounding.

"Plus, we were listening to a lot more rhythm-based stuff when we were making it; we put more emphasis on the drums and grooves. I like hypnotic, dance-y music — things like early New Order and Can were being referenced a lot. We wanted more urgency overall and less sweetness.

"Our mandate for this record was: if it doesn't make you move, it better make you cry. Even better is making someone cry and dance at the same time. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable, but I like it!"

First single "Destroyer" is available for streaming on the band's MySpace and you can download "Long Live The Fallen World" here. 

Here's the tracklisting for Invisible Republic:

"Long Live The Fallen World"
"Oh Sister"
"Destroyer"
"Pathos"
"Light Years"
"Disposable Times"
"Dreams"
"Queen Drum"
"Smoke And Mirror Show"
"Firestruck"