The Youth Class, a four piece from Peoria, IL can best be described as dark and thoughtful indie rock. At times the youthful energy is vivid, as they prove with the opening tracks of This Is What I Remember. “The Ballad of Willie Skinker, (Pts. I and II)” sets a promising tone for the album. The minimal singing and untamed guitar work are set to a drum march. The album’s noble beginning organizes noise through a simple but powerful rhythm, and sets a high standard for The Youth Class to uphold. Unfortunately, the momentum slightly fades over the next few tracks. A simple guitar riff introduces “Something Foreign,” which soon kicks into a harder, somewhat dissonant nucleus, around which Chris Voss yells his lyrics with somewhat unconvincing passion and anger. As the Youth Class moves to “Kelly Warner,” it trades in its aggression for a more emoesque ballad about an elementary school love, reminiscent of Built to Spill’s “Twin Falls,” but lacking its freshness and poignancy.

By this point it becomes obvious that all of the Youth Class’s songs are about, well…youth. This Is What I Remember is literally a chronological summary of what primary songwriter Chris Voss remembers. From kids fighting and childhood crushes to adolescent mistakes and teenage realizations, The Youth Class touches on the struggles and pains of growing up. The first half of the album concludes with the slow rocker “Bloodlines,” which reflects on a father’s death as the son comes of age.

After a drum solo to mark the halfway point, the album needs a return to the energy of the first few tracks. Although the intensity picks back up, the songs become uninspiring and less forceful. There are moments in which the band finds its groove and pulls it all together, but as The Youth Class tries too hard to push their creativity, they effectively produce songs with interesting guitar leads and unique structures that lack cohesion. The lyrics continue to lament the loss of youth, but fall short of success in invoking the emotion that lies behind them. On “This is Sick” Voss sings, “Then she said, ‘they’re telling me to medicate my problems away. I might not be happy but at least I know my thoughts are mine.’” These lines are clear, and indicate a compelling story, but do so without enough eloquence or originality to allow the listener to share Voss’s feelings.

This Is What I Remember closes as well as it opened, demonstrating passion and potential. “No More Scary Dreams,” an 8-minute epic, is the Youth Class’s attempt to emulate Weezer’s “Only in Dreams.” With a slow buildup, an intense verse, and then a slow fade into the end of the album, the final track demonstrates that the band can express their strong melodic sense over an entire song. Although it puts their influences on their collective sleeve, the track is the band’s strongest, making the most of their talents and featuring Voss’s vocals at his best.

The Youth Class is ultimately able to exhibit their emotions, and they do so quite well, but they fail to form a solid relationship with the listener. While I’m convinced that I know how they feel, when it’s all said and done I still don’t sense a connection. As a result, This Is What I Remember is musically sound and demonstrates the band’s promise, but The Youth Class still has a lot of growing up to do.