Post-folk. Punk-influenced roots. Americana gothic. Former Friends of Young Americans' music pushes at genre boundaries from alternative to ambient, shoegaze to pop. Their second album, "Dives Like a Fool, Swims Like the Dead" is a homage to late friends and the love of life. The album soars from lyrical and folksy ballads to guitar-driven indie rock, sensuous jazz to complex sample-heavy compositions and back again. Lyrically, it spans from chronicles of childhood in “Sea and the Land” to the angst and grief of “Whore,” from the mythological parallels of “Moirae” to the indictment of religious zealousness that is “Faith-Based Fear.” Former Friends of Young Americans (FFOYA) was founded in Phoenix in 2008 by guitarist and songwriter Robert Tobias, who previously owned the Casablanca music venue and co-founded Black Cactus Records. He performed with a variety of friends and players, releasing FFOYA's first album, "estas diluculo" -- an ambitious shoegaze composition intended to be listened to in its entirety -- on Black Cactus Records in 2012. Later that year, Toby teamed with writer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Jane to record "Dives Like a Fool, Swims Like the Dead." The couple has since married and moved to Kentucky where Amanda is a professor and Toby runs FFOYA House music studio. They are now recording the third FFOYA album, "Love & Vitriol," set for release in late 2015. Though their musical influences are rooted in punk and new wave, their sound has drawn praise from fans of the modern mellow movement. They have been compared to Broken Social Scene, Of Monsters and Men, Cat Stevens and The Books. "Groundbreaking sounds that afford no contrived comparisons or genre specifications, this is simply brilliant music designed for a darkened room and an open mind." -- Java Magazine