Welcome, Summer Camp; a band with a space-age sound, mashed with synths and drums and guitars, slightly off beat and definitely quirky. It’s electronic rock that the band makes their own through their focus on vocals, both the words to the song and affects on the microphone. Although technically interesting, Summer Camp’s EP, Young, is inconsistent; too muffled at the beginning due to over-using effects, but by the end, they figure out their sound.

“Round the Moon” kicks off with synth sounds that create an outer-space experience typical of old alien movies. It’s a fun song, upbeat and danceable, yet the pitchy, offbeat vocals sound as if they were being sung into a child’s amplifying microphone.

They keep the energy going with “Was It Worth It”, another murky track where the singer talks as opposed to holding a tune. Where the band succeeds is in using their sound to recreate the fogginess of being drunk, as heard in “Veronica Sawyer”; sung from an intoxicated girl’s perspective, the disjointed layers work perfectly here, and voices come from everywhere at various intensities, with repeated phrases. But that’s the only time this unusual style clicks.

Eventually, they progress to better-layered tracks, creating multi-layered harmonies to illuminate sweetly soft vocals. By the time “Ghost Train” comes on, the catchy lyrics and harmonies sound great, as though the band got better engineers and producers late into the recording process.

Could Summer Camp’s Young be a metaphor for actually being in that state, “youthful”? That we start off confusing, but eventually blossom? Maybe.

Conclusion – Only engaging if listeners can get past the first three songs to the hidden treasures at the end.