UK based punk rock band and our recent guests THE YOUNG HEARTS release their debut album ‘The Modern State’ on the 29th January 2021. The band recently became the first signing to the new UK based record label Year Of The Rat Records in July 2020 and you can order the album HERE. The record has already scored great reviews across the board – 9/10 Gigwise, 9/10 Powerplay, 9/10 Rock Sins, 8.5/10 Maximum Volume Music, 4/5 Music Speaks, and today we’re giving you a special insight into “The Modern State”, through the band’s first-hand track by track rundown below.
Through the album campaign the band have previously had coverage with the likes of Alt Press, Triple J, BBC, Idobi Radio, 89FM, Kerrang, Rock Sound, BBC, BT TV and many other respected publications. Furthermore, the band have landed official playlisting with Spotify, Apple and Deezer on previous releases. The Young Hearts have previously toured and shared stages with the likes of Can’t Swim, Junior, Mallory Knox, Bellevue Days and more, and have plans for a busy 2021 touring cycle to promote the album.
Speaking about the album Craig Lawrence says – “The Modern State’ is a collection of songs almost five years in the making. After two EPs and a number of setbacks, personally and professionally, we were at a point where the desire to carry on as a band was starting to come into question. Adulthood had crept up on us and it was becoming more and more difficult to fully commit. We had a handful of songs written, and our initial intention was to record another EP, but after realising it could be the final release for The Young Hearts, we decided that an album would be the most productive way for us to say everything we wanted to.
We spent a long time perfecting the songs in the studio with the help of our good friend Ian Sadler. If this was to be our final release, we were going to do everything we could to make sure it was the best it possibly could be.
We are so incredibly proud of these eleven songs, and it’s been tough waiting so long to put them out, but with the release just round the corner, we could not be more excited for them to be heard. It’s a huge achievement for this band to reach this point.”
Continued below…
WELCOME TO THE MODERN STATE
Track by track commentary
Track 1 – Wild & Reckless
‘This was the first song we wrote for the record and it basically set the blueprint for how we wanted it to sound. It’s about the few months I spent after I quit my dead end job, I was going out a lot, drinking a lot, but not in a drown your sorrows kind of way. It was almost a celebration and an acknowledgment that I was moving into another stage of life. That few months was a brief period where I had no stress and didn’t need to worry about anything’
Track 2 – Easy Life
‘It’s a song of appreciation for the people that are always there for me, put up with a lot, and show their support regardless. I’ve spent over half my life pursuing a dream and whenever I’ve doubted myself or come close to giving up, it’s those people that have always pushed me forward, especially over the last couple of years when I’ve really struggled. Life and everything that goes with it can be hard but the ones you love make it a lot easier.’
Track 3 – London
‘I’d just moved to Brighton for University, completely out of my comfort zone and alone. I’d got the train to a show in London, got drunk and missed my return journey back. I spent the night, roaming the streets, trying to kill the time, and talking to complete strangers who were in a similar situation. It gave me a new perspective on things, and helped me realise that things are a lot less frightening when you get up close’
Track 4 – Cold Nights
‘There’s a cliche of bands writing songs about wanting to get out of their hometown, and this song kind of says the opposite. No matter what’s happened, all the good, all the bad, the place you grew up in will always be your home. So maybe when you’re younger you dream of escaping and seeing the world but you eventually come to realise where you’d rather be’
Track 5 – The Modern State
‘This is about approaching 30, an age where some time ago you’d be expected to have your life in order. A steady job, a mortgage, married, possibly children, everything our parents had when they reached that age. These days however, it feels like you’re still figuring everything out, the same way you did at 20. Getting to that milestone age actually turns out to be nothing like how you always expected it to be growing up. You’re still only getting older.’
Track 6 – Still Wander
‘This is about reaching the next stage of your life where you have real adult responsibilities, but you’re still holding on to that childhood dream of being a successful musician. Pursuing it causes other aspects of your life to suffer, and the question is always whether letting go will make life easier, or you’ll lose a huge part of yourself.’
Track 7 – Fool’s Gold
‘When you’re a kid you just wanna rush through childhood so you can be a grown up cause you think it’s so much better. Then when you’re an adult you just wanna go back to being a kid when there was no stress. This song just deals with how we never really appreciate where we are enough, whatever age’
Track 8 – Old Familiar
‘This song is about those friendships that never change no matter where you are, how long it’s been or what you’re going through. When you’re together, it’s like nothing’s changed and you can just have a beer and carry on like everything is alright. I’ve had some of my best friends move away and I only see them on rare occasions, but when we do get together it’s like we were never apart. You need those unconditional friendships in life.’
Track 9 – Swim
‘Aaron told me a story about his dad, who passed away a few years ago, when he was a kid, so I wanted to write something that deals with that kind of loss/grief, but that also highlighted the positive influence people can have on us, and the lasting effect even when they’re gone. We learn from experience as we get older but it’s the pivotal figures that teach us the most.’
Track 10 – Anchors
‘This song goes deeper into the idea that our dreams and aspirations can actually be the things that hold us back in life, and that at a certain point you have to let them go. It treats the album as a whole as a ‘one last shot’ kind of deal. That sometimes you can put everything into it, but if it doesn’t work out, you need to accept it and move on to a new chapter, rather than let it bring you down’
Track 11 – Don’t Tell A Soul
‘I spend a lot of time reminiscing and thinking about my teenage years, looking at it through rose coloured glasses like it was the best years of my life, but really I’m just trying to draw attention away from the fact that as a 30 year old I haven’t achieved everything I wanted by this point. It’s never a good way to live, to be so invested in the past that it has a negative effect on your present. It was originally written to be the acoustic track on the album, but when recording the demo, something about the feel of song suggested that it needed to be bigger. When we started adding drums and heavier guitars, it quickly became this huge track that was the perfect way to close the record.’
