Flat Earth Society – You Do You (2016)

It’s hip to talk about how we’re all doomed.

With pop journalism awash with fatalism and divinations of a ruined future permeating social media newsfeeds, it’s tempting to give to the groundswell and just join in. But I’m not going to do that, in part because You Do You feels relentlessly optimistic, even in its quieter, self-reflective moments, which is enough to make me long for the same sentiment. Scant, tightly-wound and nearly frill-free, Flat Earth Society’s debut EP is infectiously poppy – to the point of inspiring a kind of hope that’s tough to come by.

It’s a short-lived period of manic charm; at about 20 minutes, this type of willful positivity could easily sustain a full album’s runtime, without much more variation than is already on show here. You Do You strikes a fine balance of even-keel feelgood vibes, with just enough going on under the hood to sustain more dulled attention spans. I’m resisting the urge to view this record as a reactionist pushback, symptomatic of a culture in decline. And I’ll continue to do so because this record exists in a vacuum of nice feelings, and I’m fine with that.