Youth Lagoon
photo by Tyler T. Williams

Youth Lagoon announces first album since 2016, shares "Idaho Alien"

Having teased its return late in 2022, Youth Lagoon, the project of Trevor Powers, is officially back, with a new album, Heaven Is A Junkyard due out June 9 via Fat Possum (pre-order). It’s Powers’ first album under the Youth Lagoon moniker since 2016. “Heaven Is a Junkyard is about all of us,” he says. “It’s stories of brothers leaving for war, drunk fathers learning to hug, mothers falling in love, neighbors stealing mail, cowboys doing drugs, friends skipping school, me crying in the bathtub, dogs catching rabbits, and children playing in tall grass.” The album was co-produced by Rodaidh McDonald. Check out the artwork and tracklist below.

The first single from Heaven Is A Junkyard is “Idaho Alien,” an entrancing psych-rock ballad tinged with country guitar and articulated through Trevor’s distinctive whispery falsetto. He explains:

I wait for good mistakes. I spend a lot of time feeling around in the dark. For every thousand ideas I have, I have one good mistake. I was fuckin’ around on the piano one day and found ‘Idaho Alien.’ It felt like it already existed and I just dug it up.

I’ve always loved old hardboiled crime novels. They’re twisted but pure. ‘Idaho Alien’ comes from that space. Home often feels like a Jim Thompson book. One of my neighbors smokes meth all day and mows the lawn at 2:00 am. Her boyfriend lived in a tent in her backyard, and one day she locked him out of the house so he went as far as trying to stab her. He got sent to prison for 10 years. She told me she still loves him, and I told her she deserves better. The last time I asked her not to mow the lawn at 2:00 am, we wound up talking about aliens and Subway sandwiches. Every November, a church group rakes her leaves and tells her about Jesus. I don’t think it’s working.

“Idaho Alien” comes with a Western-inspired music video shot in Idaho and directed by Tyler T. Williams. Check it out below.

Youth Lagoon, Heaven Is A Junkyard

HEAVEN IS A JUNKYARD TRACKLIST
1. Rabbit
2. Idaho Alien
3. Prizefighter
4. The Sling
5. Lux Radio Theatre
6. Deep Red Sea
7. Trapeze Artist
8. Mercury
9. Little Devil from the Country
10. Helicopter Toy

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