YOUNG WIDOWS – In and Out of Youth and Lightness

Rchl: Young Widows recently released their third album, In and Out of Youth and Lightness, on Temporary Residence Limited. The Louisville, Kentucky noise rock trio continues to morph and astound. I mean, they were born from the ashes of Breather Resist, and although you can still hear Nick Thieneman’s heavy, punching bass lines, Evan Patterson’s vocals are going somewhere else entirely. And it’s really dark and personal.

Brandon: I disagree with the words “morph” and “astound,” as well as your general tone, Miss.

Rchl: This album will no doubt be considered lighter than Settle Down City or Old Wounds, but it’s way heavier in an emotional way that those albums weren’t. I love the journey this record takes, starting with the gentle tambourine and winding guitar of “Young Rivers.” The second track to really catch my attention was “Lean on the Ghost.” Amazingly catchy in an eerie way. But the last two tracks are my favorites. “White Golden Rings” had me on the first listen. It punched me in the gut and reminded me of every man that ever broke my heart. And “In and Out of Youth,” the final and longest track on the album, is so beautifully arranged and executed, I want it to go on forever.

As someone new to Young Widows (or have you heard their previous two albums?), which tracks stand out for you? I noticed that you featured the video for Future Heart, which is probably the one track that sounds like it could be on Old Wounds, driving faster and harder (and considerably shorter). What is it about that song for you?

Brandon: Well, to be honest, I put the “Future Heart” video up because it’s the first and, so far, only single from the new album. So, yeah. It had less to do with my affinity for the song and more to do with the accessibility (existence) of the video.

However! “Future Heart” is actually the only song I much care for on the album, I’m sorry to say. It’s fast and tight and heavy. At 3:25, it’s the second shortest song on the album.

This is a forty-eight minute, 9 song album, which means long songs. And unlike (and this will seem like a completely unfair comparison) folk harpist Joanna Newsom, who can give me five songs averaging eleven minutes a piece, each seeming to twist, split, and undercut itself over and over again, Young Widows find a plateau and never seem to move from it. More than once, I’ve been dicking around on the internet while listening to the album and found myself checking the ol’ iTunes to remark, “Huh. Only halfway through this one.”

This is the first Young Widows album I’ve heard. I find it interesting that you mentioned “Future Heart” could have been on their previous effort, Old Wounds, because it definitely feels removed from the rest of the album. Where the other songs smolder, it explodes. And from what I’ve read, this album is a new direction for Young Widows. The selection of “Future Heart” as their first single feels a bit to me like either the band or their label doesn’t have total confidence in the “new direction.”

I really dig Patterson’s heavy/raspy old school rock voice. And the band members are undeniably skilled, plus they’re operating with a guitar sound I just don’t get to hear much anymore. Furthermore, their ability to build tension is supreme, but they too often seem unable or unwilling to release that tension, which is like a movie without a third act – just tension, tension, tension, end. And that gets boring.

Truthfully, they sound like a less interesting, harder version of The Constantines, whose first two albums I deeply loved.

So tell me, how does this album compare to their previous two efforts? What do you think of their “new direction?” Also, who do you see as Young Widows’ contemporaries and how do they hold up? Finally, can you make me like this album?

Rchl: Ouch. Well, let me start off by saying that our conflicting feelings towards the length of the songs probably stem from our different musical backgrounds. I mean, some of my favorite bands typically write songs that are ten minutes long. I have a few 45-60 minute albums that are between one and four tracks. My own band’s last album is 56 minutes in four songs. So, perhaps I have a fondness for the epic groove that you do not.

And I come from heavier music in general. However, over the last couple of years, I’ve fallen hard for heavy bands that don’t just scream and growl, like Big Business, Kylesa and The Austerity Program. So, although Young Widows never had harsh screamy vocals, they were harder on the first two albums. And I love Patterson’s new approach, with all my heart. Instead of shouting, he’s found his voice.

A little more about that: In and Out of Youth and Lightness is softer musically (especially vocally), but emotionally more intense, than their first two albums. The songs are spacious, leaving anger behind and allowing time to process the sorrow that is so evident in the lyrics. Maybe it’s my just interpretation, but this music feels like Patterson has come to accept some uncomfortable situations in his life (which from what I’ve read includes a recent divorce).

As far as their contemporaries, that’s a good question. By the way, I’d never heard of the Constantines before, and after listening to a couple of songs online, I don’t really hear it. But your comparison reminded me again of our different tastes – yours more indie, and mine more metal. To my knowledge there aren’t many bands doing what Young Widows is doing, but there could very well be similar bands in the indie rock scene that I don’t know about. The first few that come to mind have been around awhile: Shellac (or any Albini effort, really), Melvins, Unsane, as well as The Jesus Lizard and Nick Cave. However, they’re mixing the noisy, distorted bass and guitar with cleanly delivered, touching lyrics.

Seriously, this is why I love this album: it doesn’t sound like anything else and it’s so bleak! Did you not notice the guest female vocals on Lean on the Ghost and In and Out of Youth? Mesmerizing! They enter at just the right moments, as do the guitar riffs. And the riffs?! They’re so good! I can’t disagree more about the tension. It rises and falls within the songs and throughout the album, Future Heart being one of the crests, and In and Out of Youth is definitely the lowest of the lows.

Can I make you like this album? Geez. I think you need to listen to it a few more times. Be patient. This is not a record of singles at three minutes long each. This is a passage through undone love and weighted places, which ends in a numbness to pain. By the end, you’ll be shot in the side, and you won’t mind. These wild days are done, Brandon. Give it some honest and attentive time and I hope you’ll feel it. … Do you?

Brandon: Ha! OK. It took me a while to figure out that your flowery last paragraph was an amalgamation of quotes from the album. I was like, “Where the hell is this coming from?” I’m gonna talk lyrics in a moment, since you brought it up. Also, I don’t endorse anything by The Constantines after their sophomore album, Shine A Light.

Let me just say, first of all, I have no problem with long songs! I referenced Joanna Newsom, for God’s sakes! Gimme some old school Sigur Ros any day. I love big epic sprawling songs. “November Rain” anyone? What I don’t care for are sprawling songs that just sprawl instead of going somewhere. That’s right, Young Widows, you heard me! And I don’t want to imply that I don’t like any of the album. Almost every song has some element or passage that I find particularly interesting, and, sometimes exciting. But those moments are either fleeting or turn out to be plateaus that don’t lead anywhere. “Right in the End” is only three minutes long, but feels at least twice that because it doesn’t do anything. The accompanying female vocals you referenced are a nice touch that definitely add to the songs, but they never save the song from a lack of ideas.

(I’m coming for you Young Widows, and I’m not even upset about the tragic loss of your young husbands! Or were they old husbands, you filthy gold diggers, you!?)

Spending more time with the album has not helped. The more time I spend listening to the album, the more I pick up on the lyrics, which, ugh. For as slowly as Patterson pumps out his lyrics, for as few words as there are in these songs, you would think the lines that made the cut would extend beyond easy bromides and misfired metaphors. “Young Rivers” tells us that “Young rivers of mud are overflowing with undone love,” which seems to exist in the song more because of its internal rhyme than any content of the lyric. In “Lean on the Ghost,” he sings, “She gives us gifts of regretful sin,” which sounds kind of cool but really doesn’t add up to much within the context of the song, and that’s immediately followed by “She took a chance and fucked herself / It felt good to take a chance.” Oh, good to know. The absolute worst is “Miss Tambourine Wrist” which bores itself into your brain with its, “Shaking that fire in your fist / Shakin’!”

I’ve been exceedingly negative, I think, which doesn’t really reflect my true feelings in regard to the album. Those true feelings are essentially a shrug. I don’t love anything, I don’t hate too much. I think Young Widows have a pretty kick ass sound that could use a few better songwriters.

If you want, I’ll give you the last word so you can tell people not to listen to me!

Rchl: Thanks. I’ll take it!

So, I have to agree with you about “Miss Tambourine Wrist.” I’m completely baffled by that one, my least favorite of the whole album. Second worst? “Right in the End.” So, I think you’ve definitely made your point, the album isn’t a perfect work of genius. It’s not solid from start to finish (though I do love how it begins and ends!).

What else? I dunno. I think people who like noisy music should give it a listen! Especially if you’re a fan of any of the bands that I mentioned earlier and can appreciate artists who try new things. Yep. I am very satisfied with Young Widows’ new direction, adding a bit more psych and blues to the mix, a mix that was already awesome to start with! Don’t listen to Brandon.