Almost 4 years after the release of their acclaimed debut full length “Graustark” on Through Love Rec, Day By Day Rec., Koepfen,Tief in Marcellos Schuld Records & Teenwolves Records, German emotional post hardcore act YOUNGER US is back with a new long player dubbed “Tired Tried”, available for pre-order at this location. Today, we have teamed up to give you its first full listen below, along with a proper first hand commentary on each and every song! Check it out below, appreciate their compelling, more mature statement made with raw emotion and force, andbe sure to check them live on April 13th at their record release show at Juha West in Stuttgart, Germany (RSVP HERE).
Here’s what the band had to say about this new release:
first of all, with this track by track comment we want to express our own feelings and thoughts when it comes to the sound and the lyrics of „tired tried“. maybe you will have the same thoughts, feelings whatsoever, maybe not. what we don’t want at all, is to shape your interpretation, when you get into with the record.
when we first started writing new songs for this record, we came to a place where we discussed what this album should be about lyricwise. should there be a greater message, an overarching concept, or can every song stand for itself? we didn’t really come to a conclusion at this point of work, but over time some sort of a pattern was evolving between the songs. in the end we agreed on something, what could be called a compromise between an overarching concept and ten songs standing for themselves. for us „tired tried“ is the attempt to express all the feelings a mid twenty punk has to deal with in his everyday live, not just one big concern you could fill thousands of records with, but all the shitty stuff that happens to all of us.
I was…
Felix: the first song we wrote for this record. we wanted to do something new so we wrote a really fast part right away haha. however i feel like this is a quite groovy song and jan also did some refreshing new stuff with the vocal performance as well. the slow start leads into the album and resembles a quite classical “younger us” part. the lyrics also kinda prepare for what’s going to come. they’re cold and desperate and show how intentions and reality can drift more and more apart and the results leave one dull and tired.
The Laundry Song
Felix: by now our standard soundcheck jam. basically a grunge song through and through. all the instruments just slowly and rhythmically play around while jan mumbles on about not being motivated by anything. we used a very poppy structure for this song to emphasize the feeling of repetition and routine. it’s like watching a washing machine, but a bit more depressing.
Hiding
Manu: straight up the slowest song on the record trying to be something special. when writing this, we wanted a very loud and heavy song to catch a neat metal vibe. the drums create an untypical simplicity with straight bassdrum hits on which the guitar and the bass have more room for distortion and edginess. this song is drifting from a fuck-up intro to a loud, headbanging riff into something dreamy that almost fills out half of the song, ending with the same heavy part it started with. the lyrics are about tying to verbalize needs and also being tired of seeking a meaning. we also emphasized this on the vocals. they are angrily pinching and miserably sighing. we very much like to play this one cause it’s so easy.
Jouska
Manu & Felix: this song is about being loud and furious, without actually saying anything too big. with this, we are vomiting out the things that annoy us on people and also on the music scene we are a part of. we are constantly creating meaningless conversations in our mind about how to address the etiquette of punk, when there is obviously none. that’s what we mean by the last words of the song, saying: “I won’t ever love your lifestyle, but i hate mine too.” Also that’s the only “fast” song on the record and i guess that’s why it is so short.
Swarm Thoughts
Jan: maybe not the biggest banger of the record but definitely a massiv live song with its breakdown at the end. it was the first song we recorded the vocals for and after experimenting with them afterwards we had to do it again haha. lyrically this song is a reminder. not necessarily for you, but specially for myself. it deals with the crux not to just complain constantly about the state of the world, but not to do anything about it.
Artax
Manu: when we started writing Artax, it wasn’t clear what it was going to be. the focus was always on the very open chords, giving this an easy vibe. also we tried to create a sort of melancholiy with the lyrics at the same time. “There’s no good in this desperate form of self medication” and “so i drown myself in work and nicotine, to keep myself from dying while awake”. after this verbal tension, we took this open chords and release them into a singalong that goes “and i know that when i make it home” in the main part.
White Noise
Manu: because pop songs rule the world, we tried making one in our style. verse (quiet)- chorus (loud) – verse (Not so quiet) – chorus (loud) – second chorus (a bit louder). i guess this is why we made it the first release of ‘tired tried’. everybody just gets pop songs and is maybe able to recognize the second chorus before it even starts. based on this explanation some of the lyrics could be interpreted falsely, since the first line says: “it’s all just noise arranged in the right order”. but on the other hand, the chorus is ending with: “that our efforts are useless that our voices are sore“. Its all a bit messy and a bit more complex that one might think. i guess.
Picking Scabs
Manu: Picking Scabs depicts the heaviness a person sometimes has to carry around. with words like: “scarred tissue on an empty shell, return to dancing in the elliptical orbit” we want to give this thought a visual representation. the musical part is just going straight forward, till it breaks up in the last third of the song, ending with a dissonant but still melodic repetitive melody. the crunching foundation arranged by a distorted bass and messy drums. we like to play this song live. the best part is the feedback at the end.
Some Lovely Son
Felix: we wrote some lovely song pretty organically in about an hour or two. i started playing the bass line & manu worked out a melody over it and we then just went from there. the song is basically a jam that we immediately liked and then just worked on some small bits and pieces. the bass line forms the basis for the song and the guitar plays this really lovely and beautiful melody while the drums still push the whole thing forward. at the end we pick up the intro again but break it down into a heavy doomy riff. the lyrics deal with all the shitty effects of a break up and how you feel lost and empty and depend on random people to give you a sense of belonging. basically it’s a song about a one night stand though.
I have…
Jan: the second song we wrote for the record, but i think it sums up the record quite well, thats why we put it last. it represents everything that happens before, it’s doomy, fast, quiet and loud. it is like a last uprising, before finally giving up. we recorded the album in the basement of a friend and used the corridor to give the vocals a more natural reverb. whilst we were doing most of the vocals for the song the washer was spinning the whole time, therefore we have more than one laundry song on the record haha. huge thanks to Karol for giving us the opportunity to share our feelings about this record. and huge thanks to you, for reading this and listen to our record. this means the world to us.
