Advertised by the EP closer “Never / Nowhere”, premiered along with a special feature here on IDIOTEQ a couple of months back, the newest record from Italian grungy, 90s alt punk inspired rock band YOUNGEST is premiering today, and to celebrate, we have a special track by track rundown, as well as some more details behind this genuinely exciting release.
Youngest is an alternative rock project from Milan born in early 2016 as a trio, initially inspired by bands like Title Fight, Basement, Citizen.
In 2016 Youngest issued their first EP, “We’re Made of Memories”. The following year the band changed lineup with a new drummer, Noah, and in 2017 they released “Komorebi”, via Pan Music Production and Failures for Italy and via Jawbone Records for the UK.
In 2018 Stefano joined the project and the band released their first LP “Could Never Be You”. The band joins Hero Booking’s roster and tour Italy, sharing the stage with Turnover , Can’t Swim, Dufresne, Hundredth, Slow Crush.
It was back then when Youngest started a new writing path, experimenting with genres and letting themselves be influenced by bands like Nothing, Teenage Wrist and Whirr. On November 19th 2021 the band releases “Besides”, a new EP that expresses the new grunge and shoegaze sounds of the band.
“With this EP we have tried to experiment under different aspects, both musical and thematic.” – says the band. “From the more punk sound of our old records we tried to mix new sounds closer to grunge, to shoegaze, which are the genres that we listen to all four and that unite us.”
““Besides” is the culmination of our writing journey that lasted 2 years. So the pieces are also quite different from each other, because in this time we have more and more defined where we wanted to go.”
Content wise, the band looked for new ways from the point of view of writing the lyrics, trying to go beyond their emotional sphere and talking about personal themes that they had never taken into consideration until now. For this reason the album is called ‘Besides’.
GHOSTING
‘Ghosting‘ was the first song on this EP that we wrote and it felt perfect as the beginning of the whole record.
Ghosting is a very recent and fascinating social phenomenon in its being ruthless and above all widespread, despite little talk about it.
In this song we tried to create a fictional dialogue between victim and executioner, which, given the nature of ghosting, never happens in reality.
Italian: ‘Ghosting’ è stata la prima canzone di questo EP che abbiamo scritto e ci è sembrata perfetta come inizio di tutto il disco.
Il ghosting è un fenomeno sociale davvero recente e affascinante nel suo essere spietato e soprattutto diffuso, nonostante se ne parli poco.
In questa canzone abbiamo cercato di creare un dialogo fittizio tra vittima e carnefice, cosa che, data la natura del ghosting, non avviene mai nella realtà.
LOTUS
‘Lotus’ is definitely the most similar song to our old songs from a lyric point of view. We have always written music as a personal outlet and we have always talked about ourselves in our lyrics, so it is impossible for us to abandon this aspect.
As for the sound of ‘Lotus’, I think it’s the perfect example of where we wanted to go with this EP.
A right balance between grunge and shoegaze, but still remembering our way of writing.
Italian: ‘Lotus’ è sicuramente la canzone più simile ai nostri vecchi pezzi dal punto di vista del testo. Abbiamo sempre scritto musica come sfogo personale e abbiamo sempre parlato di noi nei nostri testi, quindi abbandonare questo aspetto ci è impossibile.
Per quanto riguarda le sonorità di ‘Lotus’, io credo che sia l’esempio perfetto di dove volevamo arrivare con questo EP.
Un giusto equilibrio tra grunge e shoegaze, ma che ricordasse comunque il nostro modo di scrivere.
CHARM
‘Charm’ is a piece that I personally care a lot, because we wrote it when we all got together after the first months of lockdown. It was born spontaneously from the desire we had to play and write. It is certainly the most different song from our usual writing canons, but it was really inspiring for us to write it for this very reason. The text takes inspiration from “The Neon Demon” by Nicolas Winding Refn, speaks of the obsessive and therefore harmful search for beauty or, in general, for perfection.
Italian: ‘Charm’ è un pezzo a cui personalmente tengo molto, perché lo abbiamo scritto quando ci siamo ritrovati tutti insieme dopo i primi mesi di lockdown. È nato spontaneamente dalla voglia che avevamo di suonare e di scrivere. È sicuramente la canzone più diversa dai nostri soliti canoni di scrittura, ma per noi è stato davvero stimolante scriverla proprio per questo motivo. Il testo prende ispirazione da “The Neon Demon” di Nicolas Winding Refn, parla della ricerca ossessiva e quindi dannosa della bellezza o, in generale, della perfezione.
SLOW FADE
‘Slow Fade’ is the most grunge song on the record. Direct, fast, pissed off. A real relief valve, especially when we play it live. It was born out of the blue, since we wrote it we have never modified it for this very reason.
Italian: ‘Slow Fade’ è la canzone più grunge del disco. Diretta, veloce, incazzata. Una vera valvola di sfogo, soprattutto quando la suoniamo dal vivo. È nata di getto, da quando l’abbiamo scritta non l’abbiamo mai modificata proprio per questo motivo.
NEVER / NOWHERE
‘Never / Nowhere’ is about our relationship with the uncertain times we live in. But not just in regards to the virus. We are in a phase of our life where every day means trying to build something, on a professional, emotional and relational level, without ever having the certainty that something will come back to you. We live in constant uncertainty and have tried to talk about it in this song.
Italian: ‘Never / Nowhere’ parla del nostro rapporto con i tempi incerti in cui viviamo. Ma non solo per quanto riguarda il virus. Noi ci troviamo in una fase della nostra vita in cui ogni giorno vuol dire cercare di costruire qualcosa, a livello professionale, emotivo e relazionale, senza avere mai la certezza che qualcosa ti tornerà indietro. Viviamo nell’incertezza costante e abbiamo cercato di parlare di questo in questa canzone.
