Yung

Falter

Written by: PP on 28/01/2015 00:20:29

As our regular readers will know, yours truly covers probably eighty to one hundred punk and punk-related records each year alongside a breadth of festivals, showcases, tiny basement shows and big arena shows within the genre both in and outside of Denmark. As a result, it's safe to argue my network within this part of the scene is robust and far-reaching, so it should be practically impossible for a Danish punk band to fly so completely underneath my radar that I have to discover them through a mention on MetroXpress out of all places. Yet that is exactly what happened with Yung from Århus; and a quick check across my network of punks in the know turned out absolutely no matches whatsoever either. This is all the more surprising considering how their debut album "Falter" is such an excellent example of punk rock rebellion at its rawest without abandoning melody altogether - kind of like a chaotic mixture between The Distillers, Fucked Up and Nirvana - so why isn't this being promoted to the scene that's likely to appreciate it the most? That's a question best left unanswered with a sordid reference to the band avoiding all social networks like the plague, including making their music available at embeddable sources.

Yet amongst this pretentious approach to self-promotion we find a record that captures its listener straight away from the beginning. Vocalist Yung Shord, whom the band is named after, owns a captivating set of pipes that borrows from Brody Dalle's piercing scream and attitude, though with similar nuances of melody found in its undertones that make it listenable. Instrumentally, the band draws from the grunge origins while passing the guitars through a post-punk/garage filter, resulting in a raw, buzzing sound that's characterized by its high-speed tempo and complete lack of pretentiousness and hipsterism at least when compared to similar bands in the Pitchfork realm. The melodies are vibrant, catchy, and jammed with groove and attitude, resulting in a vivid expression overall that lends itself perfectly for Shord's coarse vocal style. "Immaculate Independence" is the perfect example where raw attitude and rebellion meet hand in hand with catchy melody that's left just unfiltered and ravaged enough to strike through as passionate and DIY in the best way possible. But that's just one example amongst many on the record that should make most Fucked Up fans feel right at home, even if Yung's expression is far more grunge/garage oriented than the hardcore-rooted approach taken by those guys.

The primary inspiration for "Falter", however, appears to be the debut iceage record. Enshrouded in similar mystery, that record took off without almost anyone actually hearing it properly thanks to the right sources hyping it up at the same time. Here, Yung's strength is that while they tried to create exactly the same type of record and marketing strategy, they actually succeed in writing something pretty awesome within the realm of punk rock that has been missing in Denmark for quite some time. Here's to hoping the band not abandoning their primarily Distillers-esque soundscape in favour of a less punk more post-punk approach in the future. And make this record embeddable via bandcamp, Soundcloud or similar, god damn it. Even just a song will do.

Download: Immaculate Independence, Nothing Has Changed,
For the fans of: The Distillers, Nirvana, Fucked Up
Listen: Facebook

Release date 07.11.2014
Self-Released

No music player available, sadly

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