Young Ejecta’s The Planet takes you on a relaxed, interstellar journey with its electronic music, but keeps you firmly grounded on Earth with lyrics about microwaving dinners. This mini-LP of six songs is the second release for the band, following 2013’s Dominae. If Young Ejecta only sounds a little bit familiar, it may be because, until recently, they were simply Ejecta. After being sued by DJ Ejeca for having a similar moniker, the Brooklyn-based duo partially renamed themselves. “Ejecta” wasn’t just their band name, apparently it’s their band’s mascot’s name as well. I can only assume the mascot is the naked lady, portrayed by singer Leann Macomber, on all of their covers and marketing material. As a warning, most images from Young Ejecta are NSFW. Everything but the name has stayed the same; the duo is still made up of Neon Indian’s Leann Macomber and Ford + Lopatin’s Joel Ford, and they create all-electronic music paired with soft, ethereal vocals.
The overall sound of the album is chilly: Ford’s electronic music has a futuristic, cold sound; Macomber’s vocals are soft and high but lack warmth. The album is clear and clean, every word and note pops at certain points on “Into Your Heart” (though at the end, it’s hard to make out some of the lyrics.) There is no overkill here; every note feels necessary so that nothing was in excess. Even the vocals are minimal: only “All Day” has harmonizing (both tracks are sung by Macomber,) and Macomber’s vocals barely reach more than a whisper. Many of the songs feature slight crescendoes and decrescendos, but overall it’s a relaxed album that doesn’t stretch your ear’s emotional range. The most upbeat track on the album is the dance-able “Your Planet.” It’s a fun track (there are “pew pew” laser sounds and electronic hand claps) where the music takes center stage. In fact, the lyrics disappear early on, allowing the music to bounce around and travel to some sort of space discotheque. Also on the danceable list is “Into Your Heart,” which opens the album.
Most of the lyrics are about love. The idea of being getting into and staying in another person’s heart come up in “Into Your Heart” and “What You Done,” while “Welcome to Love” is about a break-up (actually, “What You Done” is on this list, too.) “Your Planet,” written for Macomber’s late friend who may be looking down on her from another planet, is about the love between the friends. “All Day” compares the singer to a nightingale from outer space, one that could fly away but chooses to stay. If you let a space nightingale go and it stays, you know it’s true love. “Welcome to Love” has the most notable lyrics; it manages to capture everything about a break up from thinking that “God is pretty funny for making me your girl” to some almost stream-of-consciousness stuff where she realizes that she forgot some stuff at her ex’s place and forgot to call her mother, then wondering if the ex is about to have sex with his new lady.
This is a clean album that doesn’t go too heavy on anything. That being said, it’s not heavy on excitement (save for “Your Planet.”) Still, the mix of Ford’s spacey music with Macomber’s ethereal, slight vocals presents an interesting mix that isn’t common and is worth a listen.
Rating: 6.3/10
Buy: iTunes
