PAWS - Youth Culture Forever

The poppier ‘Tongues’ continues the record’s confident stride with singalong lyrics that are sure to go down well live. Compared to their (still great) debut ‘Cokefloat!’, which was a fairly lo-fi affair, ‘Youth Culture Forever’ feels that much more grown up, despite its name. It’s youthful in its exuberance, but as we all remember, youth culture isn’t always that happy – which is how tracks like ‘Owls Talons Clenching My Heart’ fit in so perfectly.

Angrier, swearier tracks like ‘Give Up’ are full of millennial angst, while the slower, sadder ‘Alone’ and almost-titletrack ‘YCF’ are stripped down, soul-baring affairs. “Fuck what the others think,” instructs Taylor, and it seems that’s what the band have honestly done. Just look at ‘Narcissist’ – it follows the bouncy ‘An Honest Romance’, but jumps right back into angry mode; “Boy you need to stop singing songs about your life,” Taylor sings in the opening line.

Any sign of their pop-punk “woah oh” energy is gone by album closer ‘War Cry’. At twelve minutes long, it’s an angry behemoth, with screams and moments of tension and guitar feedback Brand New would be proud of. It’s not the easiest listen, but it’s definitely one of the best.

‘Youth Culture Forever’ takes its name from Adventure Time hero Finn defiantly doing something new in the face of an old wizard. (Sidenote: if you haven’t seen Adventure Time yet, where have you been?) As an album, you can see why they borrowed the line – it sums up the good-bad age of confusion and energy pretty perfectly. And it sums up the album pretty well too.

Tags: PAWS, Reviews, Album Reviews