Girl at the Rock Shows

It has been quite some time since I have sat down to review an album. Truthfully, life just keeps on getting in the way of things, but tonight is a quiet night in. The boyfriend is stuck at work late, I don’t have a show, and I have some crappy Mexican food on its way. Okay, maybe that last part doesn’t sound like the party it is to you, but I, for one, am so excited to not only smash some generic Mexican food but also to dig into some new music, starting with ‘Force of Habit’- the latest EP from YŪNGOLD.

This four-song EP starts with “Centre of the Earth,” which instantly blasts you with the insane power of this band. The instrumentation of this opening song is truly larger-than-life. It has a slight echo to it, which gives it an almost arena-ready feel, but the vocals seem to smooth over the boisterous sound in an odd way. It’s almost like putting a Band-Aid over a gushing wound. Although the vocals don’t get lost in the mix here, I feel like they nearly submit to the insanity of the instrumentation in such a beautiful way, creating a layering effect that adds to that aforementioned arena-ready sound. Truthfully, by the time this quick two-minute and seventeen-second opening track was coming to an end, I figured there was no way that YŪNGOLD would be able to keep this energy up.

I was wrong. The EP continues with “Completely Numb,” and although this song seems to bring a more angsty vocal style and lyrical content than the first, there’s still that undeniable sense of power that’s clearly a signature of YŪNGOLD. Although I loved the way the power continued into this song, it was the subtle sense of pain in the vocals that kept me hanging on throughout this nearly five-minute-long song. It reminds me of something like JET or another band that has taken a retro sound and given it a modern twist, but, ultimately, that comparison isn’t sitting right with me because, by the end of the song, I was left with only YŪNGOLD’s name rattling around in my head (and the sheer amount of emotion that they have put into this track.

I find it ironic that the song title of “Fucking for L*ve” has a letter of that last word omitted rather than a letter of the first word. I found that intriguing and found myself thinking about that throughout this song, which added a sense of depth to, you guessed it, another super powerful track. I’m not sure if YŪNGOLD intended for this to be an almost statement piece on this album, but that’s how I took it. I won’t get super deep into it because you all don’t need to know all of my deepest and darkest thoughts on love and what comes with that, but I will say that if you really can listen to this song and not get hooked by the sheer power of the music, you will surely get hooked by the lyrical content of this track.

My heart broke as the album moved on to “Cult” because this is the final track on the album, but have no fear: YŪNGOLD is not going to send you back into the real world without a fight. Yet another anthemic beauty of a track, I love how this final track showcases both their power and lyrical prowess, constantly reminding you of the power of music. I had never heard any of these songs prior to listening to this EP for this review, yet at the end of “Cult,” I felt this odd connection to YŪNGOLD as if they had seen into my soul and written this four-song album. Obviously, I know that’s not true, but what is clear as day is the amount of power, passion, and love that this band put into this EP.

If you’ve been feeling unsettled with the daily playlist of your life recently, I suggest just blindly throwing all four of these songs into it. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing when any one of these songs comes on; you will surely stop what you’re doing and be reminded of the passion that comes with music, and, at the end of the day, that’s something I live for and something that truly keeps me going from day to day. I can not thank YŪNGOLD enough for reminding me about that.

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