In the summer of 2020, The VIOLENT YOUTH released their fourth studio album in Tam, Gde Nas Net, a phrase loosely translated in English to โThe Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side.โ But in many ways, it was an album of firsts for the band led by Belarusian songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and creative force Arthur Tsymbal. It was The Violent Youthโs first album with vocals in Tsymbalโs native Russian language; it was the first to crystallize the duoโs darker new wave, synth-pop, and post-punk sound; and it will soon be the first to be released in North America — further exposing one of the regionโs most exciting new bands to Western audiences.
Signing to emerging independent record label ร La Carte (True Faith, Donโt get Lemon, Love Language), The Violent Youth will re-release Tam, Gde Nas Net on cassette later this year April 2021), with more music on the way.
The cassette release should provide a nice introduction to the emotive and captivating music of The Violent Youth, crafted by Tsymbal in his current residence of Augsberg, Germany, with an assist from bandmate and keyboardist Egor Ivakhnenko at his home city of Moscow, Russia. The seeds for The Violent Youth were first planted in 2014 with the release of their debut EP LOUD, and their following grew in Europe and Russia with 2016 LP Discotheque. But last yearโs release of Tam, Gde Nas Net not only saw the duoโs popularity grow, but also their creative focus.
โBefore The Violent Youth I was singing in an indie band in Minsk,โ says Tsymbal, โand when the band split up I was thinking about creating a project where I can play music that I like and listen to every day, for example Depeche Mode, Hurts, CHVRCHES, The Cure, The Human League and others. Now we use more guitars, but early TVY albums were made 95 percent with synthesizers only. I want to make a new sound with every album, so this vision varies every time.โ
Where The Violent Youthโs sound stands now is one on the precipice of brilliance, following the leads of dark-pop and post-punk bands like Molchat Doma and Ploho in securing a global audiences, and embracing an international following where Russian musical trailblazers like KINO, Biokonstruktor, and Tehnologia could not due to Cold War politics.
But in thinking of a Russian sound, one assumes a stark bleakness, a detached emotion, and one colored in muted gray. But The Violent Youthโs is anything but; the songs emanate a warth and fiery glow — see โElviraโ, โYa Vlublyon [I Am In Love]โ, and โSolntse [Sun]โ — that deliver a certain authenticity despite the language barrier. There is a pop music core at the heart of The Violent Youthโs sound, a fine polish added by producer Ignaz Engelmann in Augsburg, and the movement of the songs, and how they grip the listener, is universal to understand. The Violent Youth create music that allows the listener to either reveal themselves or stay safely in the shadows.
โI think it doesn’t matter what language you sing,โ says Tsymbal. โMusic connects people. Russian is a beautiful language, and we are always happy when people find themselves in our songs and say โHey, thats me!โ Much of the albumโs lyrics were written based on my feelings. They are based on โeveryday problems.โ For example the main song, โTam, Gde Nas Netโ, is about my feelings after leaving Belarus 2 and three years of living abroad in Germany. People who leave their countries can understand this song as well as I feel it.โ
And the physical distance between Tsymbal and Ivakhnenko is offset by the wonders of modern technology, and bridged by their shared musical vision and ability to tell universal stories through their songs. โIt doesn’t bother us, I think,โ Tsymbal says of the pair residing in different countries. โNowadays it is very simple because of the internet. I send him every demo that I compose, so we can work together on every song and exchange our ideas.โ
Says Ivakhnenko: โFortunately, we have a similar musical taste and vision of the process. We’re pretty close to each other and we can say directly โyes, that’s what we needโ or โno, it won’t workโ. I think if we worked together in the same room, everything would be identical. It’s no secret that we’d like people to enjoy our music and give these beautiful emotions to them.โ
Horosho Odnomu – I Like Being Alone
Asong about a madman, who isolates himself and finds his life pretty nice. He doesn’t need any friends, he has his books, internet and likes solving his problems on his own. I think this song can be a lifestyle hymn for lots of people nowadays.
His lonely life is shown in a music video for this song.
Tantsui – Dance
It is a funny story about a guy who falls in love with a girl in a club and tries to make her fall in love with him by dancing. In a music video for this song you can see a crazy guy who wants to buy some milk but finds himself at a party by some strangers and is rocking this place.
Svobodno – Free
Asong about breaking up and how good does it feel when you finally free from all the feelings you had all the time and didn’t know how to get rid of it.
Tam, Gde Nas Net – The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side
Asong about migration, leaving your country. About the feelings of the people who are far away from home.
Ya Vlublyon – I’m In Love
Just a happy song about being in love. โI can smell better, have more energy, it’s such a beautiful feelingโ
Privitchki – Habits
Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and other things in life that we destroy ourselves with. โI know that it is dangerous, but I’m happy with itโ
Elvira
A story about a guy who falls in love with a pole dancer – Elvira. They have some happy days together and then she disappears. One day he sees her dancing in a stripclub and it breaks his heart.
Sneg – Snow
โSnow is falling from the sky and disappears near my feet. Someone is happy and someone is cryingโ. A song about conflicts in our minds. Someone wants everything and someone is happy with a few things in his life.
Solntse – Sun
โYou remember me when you don’t feel wellโ. It’s a song about all the medical workers and it can be understood as a song about friends. We forget some people very often and remember them only when we need something or someone by our side.
Tebya – You
A story about love that you can not get back. About people that we lost in our life and understand that the time with them was perfect only when there is no possibility to โrestartโ a relationship.
