I’m well aware that I’m a grouch and a cynic. If I were cast for The Muppet Show, I’d be one of those old guys up in the balcony, complaining about everything from the omnipresence of Crocs to the inconsistency of my bowel movements. And, most of all, I’d complain about a lot of the garbage that passes for pop music nowadays. So when an album comes along that makes me forget all of that, makes me happy (nostalgic, even) and — just between you and me — draws a single drop of moisture from my shriveled tear ducts, it’s a magical thing indeed. Young Man’s EP, Boy is, quite simply, a beautiful record that works perfectly.

Boy plays with very simple themes — being young, growing up — that every listener can relate to. The lyrics, the instrumentation and the production values all gel to create a unified piece capturing a period of time most of us can only vaguely remember as a series of disjointed events, emotions, and memories. Take the song “Playtime,” and its use of a wind-up music box. I can’t remember the last time I listened to one, and their ability to captivate me with tunes created out of the air has long vanished. But hearing one in this context brought back those feelings of amazement. With a music box, you only have so long before the melody slows down, grinds to a halt, and the moment is over, not unlike childhood itself.

A dream-like soundscape is created throughout the album with the use of reverb and echo, along with field recordings of sounds like birds chirping or rain-like static. Young Man’s vocal harmonies and acoustic guitars are layered over top of these sounds, creating a lullaby effect that creates a distinct cohesion between the songs. The final song on the album, “Up Too Fast,” is delivered in two parts. The first carries the repeated refrain, “I’m a boy, I’m a boy, I’m a real big boy yeah” which is washed out by the second part of the song. In this part, the lyrics become so quiet that they are inaudible, eventually being washed out by static and what sounds to me like a guitar being turned unplugged from its amp.

So with that abrupt ending, like waking from a pleasant dream, the album is done, and along with it my brief escape from cynicism and grumpiness. I have to admit it was nice while it lasted.