Single Review – Teen Rebel by The Haunted Youth (2021) (Mayway Records)
For those who are enamoured by the sounds of dreamy jangle-pop acts like Community Swimming Pool, Swiss Portrait, Dayflower, Ghost Mail (etc, etc), please take note of a new act augmenting such subtle, gaze-laden waters.
I know nothing of The Haunted Youth, except they are from Hasselt in Belgium, they are releasing through Mayway Records and that an air of mystery surrounds them, such is the sparsity of any band/act biography that can be found of the web.
However, somehow this sense of taciturn does everything to promote the allure of this single by accentuating the sense of distance. Introducing itself with the jangliest DIIV /RGV style muscular, dream-pop riff imaginable, the remainder of the track clings to the isolation of this foundation, as if it is on some sort of fractious, fairground ride.
This sense of adrenaline is emphasized further by the demi-falsetto vocals, that are produced with just the right level of echoed effects and pitch, to ensure a sense of melancholy, fear and slight desperation are all felt within the tracks dreamy core.
Good enough as a debut to hint at both huge potential and a sense of much practiced tightness beyond the bands proposed infancy, this is an act that needs to be followed with impunity on the net.
Lovely jangle and (simulated?) slide steel guitar, by the way, the latter is my guilty pleasure. Vocals a little like MGMT? Anyway – just buy it! Roger
Catching me out there Darrin! One could say (and I would not, of course) that Belgium is a long-way from C&W heartland and so a few software tricks may do. Although it never stopped B.J. Cole from Enfield, Middlesex becoming a major pedal slide still guitar player, oh dear I am starting to whitter on…
As always, I look forward to next week’s list.
Lovely jangle and (simulated?) slide steel guitar, by the way, the latter is my guilty pleasure. Vocals a little like MGMT? Anyway – just buy it! Roger
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Thanks Roger…how do you tell the simulation from the real thing (forgive a non-misician one silly question!)
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Catching me out there Darrin! One could say (and I would not, of course) that Belgium is a long-way from C&W heartland and so a few software tricks may do. Although it never stopped B.J. Cole from Enfield, Middlesex becoming a major pedal slide still guitar player, oh dear I am starting to whitter on…
As always, I look forward to next week’s list.
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Ha Ha! Glad you are enjoying them Roger!
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