reviews / 2011

YOUNG WIDOWS - In And Out Of Youth And Lightness

Name: YOUNG WIDOWS – In And Out Of Youth And Lightness
Item: In And Out Of Youth And Lightness
Rating: 6
Author: Francesco Nunziata

2011 (Temporary Residence)

noir, noise-rock, post-hardcore

by Francesco Nunziata

The average length of the tracks immediately tells us that something has changed in these "new" Young Widows, now more reflective and less impetuous in dosing out their extremely noisy influences. And yet, compared to the admittedly imperfect "Settle Down City" and "Old Wounds", something has been lost in terms of creativity on this third effort (produced by the band themselves alongside Kevin Ratterman of My Morning Jacket).

Like a cavernous, shadowy ritual, the whole record unfolds, time and again, between slowness and solemnity, foregrounding a blues heritage that's anything but secondary (starting with "Young Rivers") and, quite often, tinged with urban noir ("In And Out Of Lightness"). Sonic coordinates that frame lyrics steeped in despair, in which the dissolution of relationships symbolizes the decline of Western civilization. And so it's precisely the noisier offshoots that try to track down a glimmer of light amid the darkness: the thick kammerspiel of "Lean On The Ghost", the pulsing "Miss Tambourine Wrist", the atmospheric, emphatic heavy psychedelia of "White Golden Rings".

Still, in trying to find a middle ground between noise explosiveness and dark meditation, at times bordering on an Americana with a doom aftertaste (expressed, for instance, at its best on the closing "In And Out Of Youth"), the Louisville trio ends up losing their way, left empty-handed in the darkest, most restless corner of their soul.

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22/04/2011

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Francesco Nunziata, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition