Youth Sector share new single “Is Blood”
When Youth Sector first emerged with 2020’s debut EP Mundanity, they immediately marked themselves out as a band capable of pulling at life’s chaotic threads with an un-nerving dexterity. They employ a playful tension, often loaded with the threat of unpredictability that, in a flurry of newly-adopted funk and groove elements – and under the influence of art-rock greats of yore - comes spiraling to life in a carnival of leaping synths and ricocheting basslines that have a habit of exploding into lawless, free-wheeling, joyous abandon.
The last few months have taken Youth Sector around the UK and Europe, supporting bands including Courting and The Ninth Wave, as well as performing at numerous festivals. It has given them a fresh opportunity to tighten their gaze on the world around them. While it is fair to say that thematically the band takes great pleasure in skewering the concept of a Cruel Britannia - they themselves viewing a world strewn with inequality and a failing-upwards political class - the Brighton art-rock 5-piece never revel in bleakness. They manage to twist everyday narratives into music that is quite the opposite; upbeat, and full of positive energy and earworm melodies.
New single “Is Blood” continues Adult Contemporary’s cross-examination of a sleepwalking middle-England, this time conjuring imagery of the wayward nationalism that increasingly finds itself a mainstream voice. Atop skittish guitar-lines and washed-out synths, guitarist and lead vocalist Nick Tompkins considers the human cost paid by others so that our own land could become rich and prosperous. “The red on your favourite flag is blood”, he sings. Tompkins comments further on the song:
“This one comes from a growing distaste and bewilderment for people in England who are so proud to be English. The song is an attempt to weigh up ‘patriotism’ with the fact that this country, our wealth and our position in the world was built on the suffering of others - we are not deserving of it and it shouldn’t be a source of pride and entitlement. It was written while the BLM riots were in full swing where ‘all lives matter’ started cropping up not just from anonymous internet trolls but people I knew also which was sickening and disorientating.”
With Adult Contemporary, Youth Sector take a bold leap toward harnessing how it feels to navigate life during a time of persistent political turmoil and turning it into a sound of feverish intensity.
