Young Ruins is a trio hailing from New York City (Brooklyn) which has been around for quite a while now as they probably got together in 2013 or 2014. But despite all these years of existence the band's
production remains very limited. It's in fact not so surprising when
you know how busy these multi-artists are with their other various projects.
There is Roy who played in
Brasilia
(formerly known as Le Tigre but they changed their names for quite
obvious reasons... who came with this name idea anyway??) and
Crush 22
but who also works solo under the name
Ice Orgy
and manages the label Unovis; there
is Mike who played in many bands including
Flaws
and
Palatka but who works mostly as
a visual artist; there was Gina who's drummed in numerous bands but also sings in
Ötzi and
Adrenochrome
now that she's moved to Oakland and has been replaced by James in
YR.
Released as a tape on Unovis in 2015, this 2014 demo features five tracks of hi-fi post-hardcore which would not have been ridiculous at all on vinyl for a first quality EP.
Young Ruins digs deep into the 90s and 2000s post hardcore scene to
take out the songs' construction scheme, the melodies and put them back
together in something pretty dense, short and intense (three tracks out of
the five are under the 2 minutes mark). I'm not talking of the "technical"
side of post-hardcore, the one with a lot of arpeggios and string
"knitting", but more of the "simple" and sincere side which keeps the bass
player on a leash.
Jerky but discreet drum rhythms, a guitar that doesn't hesitate to build
interesting melodies but that knows how to stay in its spot to leave all
the necessary space to melodic, sometimes sad and rather lyrical vocals. The quite typical of a certain type of American "rock" vocals that some did not
hesitate to label as "emotional" a few decades ago.
Parts of the late 80s and 90s Dischord catalogue come to mind of course,
I can think of bands like Bluetip for the melodic side,
Embrace, Rites of Spring and Fugazi as well because
you can't really find any bands swimming in those waters which have not
been influenced by them anyway, a bit of Ignition maybe but also
some of Steve Albini's bands (Rapeman? Shellac?) and the Touch And Go catalogue, the
French guys of
Pylone
for the vocals and a bit of the UK math-rock / post-hardcore scene (Kill Yourself,
Wooderson?)... well many things indeed!
Anyway enough with the name-dropping, Young Ruins delivers a very
good first release which brilliantly mixes a beautiful sensitivity with a
sober and efficient technical mastery full of energy (damn what a recap sentence!).
It took almost six years for the trio to deliver another tape under the
Young Ruins name. Well it's not really true, a lot less than that
actually as these songs were recorded in 2016 but
Severance Play
was only released early this year for some reasons. A little line-up change
happened on the way as Gina left and was replaced by
James behind the drums.
And not everything is new here either, ok all the songs were re-recorded
but all the five demo tracks are included, which makes it a kind of
discography tape in a way. And what you notice immediately is that the
four new tracks take a much more progressive approach than the majority of
the old tracks, yes of course there is Rabbits (written by
Eric Owens of
Bad Energy
and
The End Of The Century Party) which already described a rather special trajectory, almost progressive
and ethereal in a dimension of noise rock that I didn't expect to come
across here. But USA Today and Actual Women also got this
vibe recalling the "prog noise" of
Carnivorous Bells
whereas On hold leans more toward the math-rock sprinkled post hardcore of the above mentioned British bands.
And if you're not a cheap fuck and finally decide to purchase the digital version, you'll have
the pleasure to discover a surprising remix version of
Shift Tense as a closing track (a version entitled
Ryan Seaton Bummer Banger Remix, are we talking about this
Ryan Seaton? Sorry I don't have the references) which gets a bit lost in vocal
"bursts" that are clearly too melodic to be quite honest.
At the end of the day Young Ruins manages to wake up my love for the post-hardcore/math-rock scene which I admit to having neglected a little lately for more "brutal" genres. The trio delivers a solid record whose construction and relative complexity require several listenings to appreciate the finesse of the whole, although my old deaf ear was immediately hooked by what it was painfully guessing. It's the kind of record you go back to, like an old friend who recalls the good old days while living a fulfilled life in his own way now...
N,J'Oi!
