Glen Yoder- “While You Were Young”
There is a review on theblueindian.com (http://www.theblueindian.com/2010/06/01/1876/) of an Ep I worked on with Joel Khouri at Bright City Studios. It completely rips it apart. The review refers to Yoder as an Artist for teens and youth groups. I read this review and agreed with the “teens” portion but not the entire review. Glen Yoder is extremely “Pop” oriented in his writing of melodies and hooks which I believe is where Beth, the reviewer, was getting the phrasing for Teen Sensibility from. Glen’s melodies and hooks stick in your head, make you nod, and tap your foot for hours and days.
When I read this review I “Tweeted” something terrible. After drinking a bit on an empty stomach and not much sleep I was not in the correct decision making state of mind. I said I agreed with the review even though I hated it. Bad call Joel Willis. Bad Call. While I agreed with the “Teen” portion of the review I did not agree with the entire review which is the portion I hated. Unfortunately in my “influenced” state I lacked the cognizance to portray how I felt regarding the entire review so I decided to review the review myself . . .
“ Glen Yoder’s music is for the 12 to 16 year old youth groupers at your local church.” -Yes and no. Glen’s music IS for the 12 to 16 year olds as much as most music all of America loves is for 12 to 16 years olds; Poppy, head nodding, foot tappin goodness.
“ His music is showy, pseudo-new wave pop, without any substance or verifiable shimmer.” -Showy? Hells yes. Pseudo-new wave pop? Most definitely. Without any substance? Say what? Glen’s lyrics are so substantial they smack you upside the head and tug at your heart. Verifiable shimmer? How can you be “Showy” without “Verifiable Shimmer”?
“ I mean, if you like a dash of Owl City in your life, then maybe you could play through this EP a couple times and walk away satisfied.” -I will say Owl City is not in my personal iTunes library but he is one of the top Artists out there at the moment. Who wouldn’t want to be compared to someone bigger than themselves? Glen could be just as big and mainstream without the bubble gum. If Beth was simply trying to be mean while cutting him down and comparing him to a mainstream artist she should have used Justin Beiber. Which is obviously not a worthy comparison, for Justin.
“Don’t get me wrong, I understand his message. Songs like “Hollywood” reflect the feeling that Hollywood is far from wholesome, and is there anything really fulfilling on the boulevards? But his thoughts are translated into whiny singing and a low, brooding guitar in the background that’s almost reminiscent of a sad Blink 182 song, but lacking the engaging percussion that could make it a foot-tapper.” -Apparently Beth does not understand Glen’s message. “Hollywood” isn’t about Hollywood, it’s a breakup song. I love Blink 182 and their sad songs so I won’t even jump that train. The percussion on “Hollywood” adds to the depth and dimension of the song. It’s not a Dance Floor song. It’s one for the heart, not the romp.
““Hope” talks about how “Under His blood you see the sons and daughters are dancing free,” and while it starts off with dance-y, contagious, and riveting intro, the vocals feel less like singing and more like fast-talking.” -This is the Dance Floor song. Four on the Floor, Claps, Synth lines, oh yes. Love it!
“In “Greenland,” Yoder tries his hand at an echoing voice, but it winds up competing with the guitars and percussion. Frankly, Death Cab For Cutie wrote a better song about a highway with “405”—Yoder managed to make an entire country sound boring in the span of four minutes and thirty-five seconds.” -”Greenland” isn’t even about a country. Glen writes using metaphors, you know, like every good songwriter in the world.
““Goodnight, Goodnight” is the only interesting song on here, instrumentally. It sounds less processed and competitive, more genuine and engaging. It’s got a standoffish, slightly moody guitar in the background, flowing over the residue of chords left by the other one. His vocals don’t sound like they’re begging for an audience, which is entirely refreshing.” -Finally, Beth tries to compliment Glen. The funny part is it’s the most processed song on the Ep. I won’t go into exactly how the song was produced and all but this comment made me laugh.
Overall, Glen Yoder’s Ep “When You Were Young” is surprisingly good, on it’s own and also once you consider the fact this is his first release. It’s young and vibrant yet solid in character. The genius of a Producer, Joel Khouri, worked with Yoder to take songs which potentially could have been mediocre and made them into hits. Look for Yoder to be around a long time, quite a long time . . .
So, after writing this post and finally finding internet access I found that Beth from theblueindian.com had posted a revised review of Glen Yoder’s Ep. I applaud her for giving Glen another chance. The new review makes it apparent she relistened to the Ep and still didn’t like it. Though she gave it another try she still had not grown to like it, which is fine, but I do not agree with her reasons for not liking it. I am certain there is plenty of music Beth enjoys which I do not. Everyone is entitled to their opinions which is what I love about music. It hits different people in different ways. I for one love Glen Yoder’s music. It grabs you, makes you shake your romp, then rips tears from your veins. We’ll be hearing from Glen’s soul for quite a long time . . .
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