Young Jesus are an indie rock band from Chicago, IL, who I admit I only stumbled across a few days ago. Even with relatively few listens their debut full length release ’Home’ has really caught my attention and encouraged repeated listens.
The album is pretty diverse in sound, there are some simple sounding, more stripped back tracks (Earthquake), some manic 100mph tracks (Away) and there are larger, proper rock songs which build to noisy crescendos (Not Quite Dead). The lead’s baritone voice is reminiscent of some recent mediocre British bands (Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, Editors etc.) but it’s use is much more effective than the Joy Division-esque posturing that is so familiar. I actually quite like Tom Smith’s (from Editors) voice, it could really be used to convey a foreboding, but the Editors’ songs never really utilised it properly. Young Jesus suffer no such worries, for example on ‘Family and Friends’ he uses the vocals to slowly build up to a loss of control comparable to Matt Berninger circa Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers. I’m a sucker for shouty screamy bits in songs, whether it be angry or desperate or cathartic, and Young Jesus deliver.
Home is available now on a pay-what-you-can basis. The temptation to give nothing is large but I’m sure they would appreciate any donation possible.