I’m going to admit something unexpected as the resident curator of the latest and greatest here at New Noise (editor: sure, dude): I wasn’t really a fan of post-punk until my 30s. As a millennial, I was familiar with parts of the sound as part of the turn of the millennia garage rock revival, but I was too up my own metal ass to appreciate the sounds that came alive and of age in the 80s. Especially anything faintly sad or goth-y; it’s like catnip to my soul; however, it must not have connected when I was still as connected to religion as a Rosary. Anyway, there’s no wrong time to fall in love with art, and the reckless, hopeless romantics making the best resonant post-punk will always have my heart. It seems another heart was won all the way over in vocalist/guitarist Diego Bracho and The Youth Play, who, uh, play the sound with the style rarely heard since the best of the late 80s. With nods to shoegaze and hauntingly stellar hooks, there’s much more to someday, forever than purely nostalgia; however, that secret sauce that created the classics is here and alive in The Youth Play.
“I’m so glad you speak about this duality; we never wanted to create a record that just reminded you of the problems in our world. There are already enough reminders out there. The escape of those and the fact that it’s ok to be anxious about things happening around you is a big part of it, not becoming blind to them but not letting yourself be completely swallowed by any of it. Musically, and like with everything we write, we just wanted songs that made you feel intensely. I am a very nostalgic person and that can help when you want to create art that truly hits a deeper level of emotion. I think the biggest surprise was how easy it was writing these songs. It’s like we all had this idea of how we wanted The Youth Play to sound so it was very natural for the songs to come alive, most of them were written in a day or two and felt almost automatic, as if we all had them in our heads for years and they were just waiting to come out.”
“Whether it’s music or art or any endeavor that you love, you have to give yourself into it. For us there is no other way to live our lives. That’s also probably the main message of the record, obviously it delves into the politics and the problems in our world and how terrifying reality can be right now, but you have to really carry on living your life, being grateful for the fortune to be where you are, with the privileges that have come with, and trying to voice what you believe in, trying to take some active role in everything that is unfolding. I think the title of the EP embodies the overall feeling very well, but we really hope people feel moved and have a connection to these songs in any way, that they get the sense that life is now, that all that really matters is now and what you do with it.”
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Photo Credit: Pedro Soler
