From the clouds, the band that got me through the pandemic has reappeared and dropped my summer theme song.
In mid-quarantine (October/November), TikTok exposed me to the Australian band, Gang of Youth’s masterpiece that is “Achilles Come Down”. That quickly topped my 2020 music review. The song pulled me in not just with the story of Achilles but the mixture of french philosophy drifting through the back and the structure of it all. To this day it still wows me. One night after that, in the haze of animating with YouTube’s auto-play running for background noise, I heard “Do Not Let Your Spirit Wane” from that same album for the first time. That first listen literally had me crying at my desk to the tragic story of lead singer David Le’aupepe’s imaginary wife and kid, all while I was animating White Sox Dave yelling about something. For the same reason I love Johnny Cash so much, I was starting to love Gang of Youth. Their storytelling through song is absolutely phenomenal.
Even as someone who is bad at listening to new music, I jumped right into the full album after hearing that song. I could not get enough.
I don’t think any album hit me like a gut punch quite like “Go Further In Lightness” has. I wrote a blog about it a bit back in November but even now I still find new lines that pull out such deep meaning for me. This album came out in 2017 and it’s such a god damn same it took me 3 years to find. Also with it being so long since they made music I was a little sad.
But low and behold, two days ago Gang of Youths dropped a single that is going to be my summer theme song. “the angel of 8th ave.” is about guiding new love in a new city. About finding a place and building your own heaven. It is so beautiful.
One day, when I’m old and grey (like 26), I’ll look back on this summer and the montage of memories will play and this is the song that will filter over it. Like a “Last Season In Shortman’s Life”, with clips of what went down — that kind of memory montage. This is the song that guides the story.
There is a new album coming from the group but this will be the song that I’m going to drunkingly sing while floating in a swimming pool. According to this interview with NME, it’s a transitional song for the band because their new sound is different from their old one. Obviously, after 4 years, a new city, and new members, the sound is bound to change. I will without a doubt love the whole album whenever it gets dropped. There is no specific date yet. Knowing how they tell stories though song, even with new sound, it’s bound to be a masterpiece to me.
Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go for a drive and act like I’m the main character.
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Featured Image: Amy Heycock
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