Biography
Young Prisms deliver an intensely amplified yet subtly tuneful strain of shoegaze that initially bristled with noise-rock intensity on their opening full-length, Friends for Now, before easing into a neo-psychedelic haze with 2012’s In Between. On Drifter, issued in 2022 after nearly ten years away, the quartet merges those approaches into a shadowed yet hopeful and melodic whole.
The quartet came together in San Francisco toward the end of the 2000s, featuring Jordan Silbert on drums, Matt Allen handling guitar and vocals, Stefanie Hodapp on vocals, and Giovanni Betteo covering bass and vocals. Local live performances soon drew attention from writers and independent imprints. Their earliest releases comprised a split cassette alongside Worldwide Computer God plus a CD EP on Weedza Records. Late in 2009, Mexican Summer issued the band’s self-titled 12-inch single. A series of split 7-inches followed in 2010, pairing them with Small Black on Japan’s Big Love Records, Weekend on the U.K.’s Transparent, and Mathemagic on France’s Atelier Ciseaux. That same year Kanine Records signed them for a debut album.
After guitarist Jason Hendardy of Permanent Collection joined, the group tracked the noise-scarred, Sonic Youth-inspired Friends for Now. Issued in January 2011, the album prompted Hendardy’s departure; Ashley Thomas of the Splinters then came aboard on guitar and vocals. Their follow-up, In Between, arrived via Kanine in March 2012 with production assistance from Monte Vallier, previously linked to Weekend. The record dialed down the debut’s abrasiveness for a slower, heavily processed atmosphere aligned with dream pop’s gentler edge.
Following the album’s release, Young Prisms withdrew from activity. Hodapp and Betteo turned to family life while Silbert relocated eastward. Eventually the four founding members reconvened, buoyed by the continued vitality of the dream-pop and shoegaze scenes they had once inhabited. Recording resumed in June 2020 under producer Shaun Durkan. Shaped by altered social conditions, personal upheavals, and California’s wildfire destruction, the resulting noise-pop songs emerged dark and at times ominous. Fire Talk released Drifter in March 2022.
The quartet came together in San Francisco toward the end of the 2000s, featuring Jordan Silbert on drums, Matt Allen handling guitar and vocals, Stefanie Hodapp on vocals, and Giovanni Betteo covering bass and vocals. Local live performances soon drew attention from writers and independent imprints. Their earliest releases comprised a split cassette alongside Worldwide Computer God plus a CD EP on Weedza Records. Late in 2009, Mexican Summer issued the band’s self-titled 12-inch single. A series of split 7-inches followed in 2010, pairing them with Small Black on Japan’s Big Love Records, Weekend on the U.K.’s Transparent, and Mathemagic on France’s Atelier Ciseaux. That same year Kanine Records signed them for a debut album.
After guitarist Jason Hendardy of Permanent Collection joined, the group tracked the noise-scarred, Sonic Youth-inspired Friends for Now. Issued in January 2011, the album prompted Hendardy’s departure; Ashley Thomas of the Splinters then came aboard on guitar and vocals. Their follow-up, In Between, arrived via Kanine in March 2012 with production assistance from Monte Vallier, previously linked to Weekend. The record dialed down the debut’s abrasiveness for a slower, heavily processed atmosphere aligned with dream pop’s gentler edge.
Following the album’s release, Young Prisms withdrew from activity. Hodapp and Betteo turned to family life while Silbert relocated eastward. Eventually the four founding members reconvened, buoyed by the continued vitality of the dream-pop and shoegaze scenes they had once inhabited. Recording resumed in June 2020 under producer Shaun Durkan. Shaped by altered social conditions, personal upheavals, and California’s wildfire destruction, the resulting noise-pop songs emerged dark and at times ominous. Fire Talk released Drifter in March 2022.
Albums
Singles
