Show review: The Early Years at Union Pool, January 27

UK threesome the Early Years recently ended a three-night stand in New York with a show at Union Pool, and judging from the size of the crowd, the hype was heavy. Unfortunately, the band couldn’t really deliver on any promises other than being a decent Spiritualized cover band; most of their songs were long, droning, fuzzy walls of sound, with occasional, unintelligible vocals. Their self-titled CD, which is out on Beggars Banquet, shows off a slightly poppier side of the band, and is far superior to the live show.
The band also lacked any charisma onstage, so I was forced to watch the crowd, which resulted in one notable observation: hipster girls are now wearing sanitation worker jumpsuits. Yes, hipsters are dressing like garbage men. While the wealthy art-student obsession with the working class is well documented (see hats, trucker), the trash hauler jumpsuit as fashion item just bumps it up another notch. What’s next, migrant farm worker chic?
Early Years mp3s at: http://www.theearlyyears.org.uk/index.php?s=downloads
-Cortney Harding