The mood it evokes is inevitably gloomy, but also self-reflective – a laying bare of the most visceral aspects of one’s soul, with an expectation, if not of judgement, at the very least of understanding. With this in mind, the title chosen by Swedish four-piece Isolated Youth for their debut long player feels like a remarkably accurate, if slightly ominous, description of the record’s actual nature.
It captures the darkness inherent in the music, as well as the uncompromising earnestness of the songwriting and lyrics; the culmination of a musical career which is already remarkably long and articulated – vocalist Axel Mardberg was only fourteen when the band first got together – the record has a fair amount of self-reflecting to do, and it does so in a way that is both insightful and emotionally compelling. After listening through, one is left with the feeling of having been briefly admitted into the band’s collective mind in its most unfiltered form, nightmares and worries included – as well as hopes and awareness of growth.
While the band may be often described as post-punk, the album owes a significant stylistic debt to classic goth rock, traces of which are to be found in the powerful, and locally overwhelming, use of reverb, in the darkly textured interplay of synths and vocals (best exemplified by tracks like ‘Ghost Town’, one of the stand-outs in the record, and perhaps the one where the goth influence is felt the strongest), and in the special attention composition pays to atmosphere throughout. The moodier, harder-hitting tracks like ‘Where Have You Been’ summon echoes of Nine Inch Nails, and there is something of The Cure especially in the treatment of the vocals. The post-punk spirit surfaces elsewhere particularly in the incorporation of electronica, giving tracks like ‘Love Locked in a Dark Room’ or namesake ‘Miserere Mei’ a sharper edge and a more confrontational stance. Another stand-out moment is offered by ‘Psykosoma’, a track that is as emotionally direct and compelling as it is musically challenging: an excellent demonstration of how technical complexity can be achieved without detracting anything from the ability of the music to summon a gripping mood, this is almost a gauntlet thrown in the face of the oversimplification increasingly seen in so much of what is termed post-punk nowadays. With the broader spaces opened by its synths and the self-reflective moments it incorporates, this is truly a beautiful track, one that lingers in the mind long after the album is over.
While it leaves plenty of different directions to explore, the album is without doubt a cohesive whole, tied together by a specific sound quality that is murky, heavily textured, and in places almost claustrophobic. It is not an easy listen, and nor should it be; but it is a compelling one, both in its sincerity of themes and delivery and in the finesse of construction of most tracks. It is true that the sound could be a little cleaner in some places – opening track ‘A New Day’ feels almost drowned by the reverb in parts, although this may very well be by design, and it is certainly effective in ushering in the mood of subtle disquiet that ripples throughout the record – and there is some restlessness associated with a hard-to-shed feeling that these songs could only fully come to life in a live setting (and in the right kind of club setting, at that). Regardless, this is a very mature debut, which feels like the well-earned culmination of a lengthy trajectory full of hard work, artistic search, and self-reflection. It is rare for a group of artists to lay themselves bare as Isolated Youth have done here, and the voice they have created for themselves feels authentic, charismatic, and compelling.
Chiara Strazzulla
Image: ‘Miserere Mei’ Official Album Cover
