Young Galaxy formed in Vancouver, Canada, as duo including Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless. Through that summer of 2005 and the spring of 2006 they recorded with appearances and contributions of friends at Jace Lasek’s Breakglass Studio. Their sound has been described as similar to the bands Slowdive, Galaxie 500 and Luna as well as Pink Floyd and Spiritualized. The band has toured in Canada, The United States and Europe, opening for Arcade Fire, The Album Leaf, The Frames, Peter, Bjorn and John, Stars and Death Cab For Cutie. They later moved to Montreal, where they recorded their self-titled debut. The album was released on April 24, 2007.
They recorded their second album Invisible Republic in Montreal at Hotel2Tango studio with Radwan Moumneh engineering (A Silver Mt. Zion, Pas Chic Chic) and at Breakglass Studios with Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes engineering. Invisible Republic was released independently on August 25, 2009 through Fontana North. It was mixed by Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, Snow Patrol) in Glasgow, Scotland. It was subsequently released in July 2010 in the U.S.A. by Paper Bag Records, and received a long list nomination for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize.
The band followed up in fall 2010 with YG No Art EP, an EP comprising unreleased tracks and remixes from the Invisible Republic sessions.
Their third album, Shapeshifting, was recorded in Montreal, Canada, and was produced by Dan Lissvik of the band Studio in Gothenburg, Sweden. The band communicated with Lissvik via Skype over the nine months he spent mixing the recorded vocals.
The album, released in February 2011 on Paper Bag Records, has been described as a massive change in creative direction, eschewing their former shoegaze, dream-pop style for a more electronic pop sound. Stephen Ramsay describes the change in song composition method, "instead of picking up a guitar and finding the most brilliant melody we could, we tried to erase the shape of the songs."
Discography:
Swing Your Heartache (2006, EP)
Young Galaxy (2007)
Invisible Republic (2009)
YG No Art EP (2010)
Shapeshifting (2011)
Ultramarine (2013)
High and Goodbye
Young Galaxy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Fell in with the tide
Felt the weight of the sad light
Hot open wide
This sound makes me leave you
Thrashing inside
I woke up in water
Who's drowning inside
Inside
Relax all your borders
Let the tide in in stride
I've come with the scepter
And you can't say you even tried
I'm high again, love
I'm high and goodbye
I'll leave you in certainty
Goodbye, goodbye
I'm high again, love
I'm high and goodbye
The lyrics of Young Galaxy's "High and Goodbye" describe a person slipping away from reality and succumbing to the pressures of life. The opening lines "I slipped from the sidewalk, fell in with the tide" hint at the person losing control over their life and becoming a part of something much larger than themselves. The weight of the "sad light" is heavy on this person, and they feel overwhelmed by it all. The imagery of being "hot open wide" is likely a reference to vulnerability and feeling exposed.
The person is torn between leaving everything behind and staying where they are. The line "This sound makes me leave you, thrashing inside" could be interpreted in a few ways. It could be a reference to a specific sound that triggers the desire to leave, but it could also be the general noise of life that becomes unbearable at times. The person feels trapped, like they're drowning, but it's not them who's sinking, it's the world around them.
The chorus of the song repeats the phrase "I'm high again, love, I'm high and goodbye". The "high" here could refer to a temporary escape from reality, like getting high on drugs, but it could also be the feeling of being on top of the world, even if it's just for a moment. The person knows they need to leave, and they do so with certainty, bidding farewell to everything they've ever known.
Line by Line Meaning
I slipped from the sidewalk
I accidentally left your world and entered the unknown
Fell in with the tide
I flowed with the current of my new surroundings
Felt the weight of the sad light
I experienced the burden of loneliness in a new place
Hot open wide
My emotions were raw and exposed
This sound makes me leave you
The reality of our separation forces me to depart
Thrashing inside
I struggled with the pain of leaving you behind
I woke up in water
I found myself submerged in the overwhelming feeling of love
But it's you
You are the cause of my drowning
Who's drowning inside
You are also struggling with your own emotions
Relax all your borders
Let go of your inhibitions
Let the tide in stride
Embrace the changes that come your way
I've come with the scepter
I hold the power to help you through this
And you can't say you even tried
Even though I have the power to help you, you didn't ask for it
I'm high again, love
I am chasing a feeling of euphoria
I'm high and goodbye
But I know this feeling won't last forever and I must leave
I'll leave you in certainty
I am leaving you with a clear understanding of why
Goodbye, goodbye
Farewell, farewell to what could have been
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Catherine Anne McCandless, Stephen Ramsay, Stephen Kamp, null Dan Anders Lissvik
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Shoes742
This is such a hauntingly beautiful song
@androphallic
what happened to the amazing live version??!!!
@bpansky
huh, I never noticed there's like a mandolin or ukulele or something during the start of the song. Maybe the song sounds slightly different on youtube than when I get it off the cd? ...Nope, I just checked, it's the same. I just never noticed that :P