// 2007 Silverchair - Young Modern

// massmirror
// password: spaceisland.blogspot.com

Young Modern is the fifth album by Australian alternative rock band Silverchair, released on March 31, 2007. Young Modern debuted at #1 on the Australian albums chart on April 15, 2007, and #8 on the New Zealand albums chart.

Young Modern was Silverchair's fifth consecutive album to debut at number one on the ARIA albums chart, making Silverchair the first band to accomplish this feat in Australia. Young Modern also received four Aria Awards at the 2007 Aria Awards, including Single of the Year (for "Straight Lines") and Album of the Year.

Young Modern was received with great enthusiasm from reviewers. All Music Guide's review said the album contained "catchy melodic hooks, inspired lyrical themes, and stunning string arrangements", and called it the "pinnacle of the band's fascinating development". Reviewer Clayton Bolger heaped praise on most of the songs on the album, calling "Straight Lines" an "instant rock classic".^[5]

Review website Xdafied was equally impressed by the album, and was the second site to praise the opening track, "Young Modern Station", stating that it "will leave you in awe at its refreshingly different chord progression". Xdafied's reviewer summarised the review by calling the album "a unique masterpiece".^[19] Meanwhile, Rolling Stone reviewer David Fricke called Silverchair's members "young (in their late twenties)...[and] aggressively modern",^[20] and Entertainment Weekly called the album a "polished glam-rock suite".^[21] Sputnikmusic reviewer Tyler Fisher also approved of the album, although he did not think it was as good as it was made out to be, commenting "It is not as good as the ARIA awards will undoubtedly make it out to be but still one of the better mainstream listens of the year."^[2]

Nick Pearson of PopMatters, meanwhile, was highly critical of the album. He began his review with the statement "Once you reach the level of intellectual maturity where you can tell the difference between cryptic but poetic lyrics and nonsensical crap, you have outgrown Silverchair", and continued in the same fashion throughout. Pearson likened Johns to Kurt Cobain, saying they share a common inability; "his inability to write lyrics". His only praise was for the third single released from the album, "If You Keep Losing Sleep", stating "'If You Keep Losing Sleep' is proof that Silverchair are capable of recording interesting music"