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Yung

Ongoing Dispute

Written by: PP on 27/02/2021 02:42:29

There was a time where I would have classified Århus, Denmark based Yung as garage punk. They impressed on their debut album "Falter" already back in 2014 with a sound that drew from grunge as much as it did from Fucked Up style indie-flavored hardcore, filtered into a quirky form of garage punk that smoothed out a bit on sophomore record "A Youthful Dream" five years ago. Not so much on third album "Ongoing Dispute" anymore.

Although change has been a constant in Yung's career, the change of direction for "Ongoing Dispute" is rather drastic. The songs are slower and draw more from the pretentious side of post-punk mystery than they are rooted in raw punk energy. Garage rock is now the subtle undertone in the same way as punk used to be in their old sound, where the mix now is closer to Cloud Nothings combined with The Strokes, although played through a post-punk lens. It's cleaner, more polished (especially in the vocal department), whereas the guitars source from the reverb-laden soundscapes of Title Fight's "Hyperview" and the oddball quirkiness of a band like Pavement.

That said, there's a lot of great stuff here: songs like "Progress" and "Autobiography" are experimental post-punk pieces which stray away from the mainstream, and produce peculiar, distantly catchy melodies of off-tune godhood. "Above Water" is another good example: the band take their time to slowly buildup and crescendo the song until a noisy, semi-chaotic finish where they really come into their own. These are the moments where the band's underlying energy and coarse vocals come out and play, highlighting the exact ideals that have been the key draw of Yung since their inception.

Common to all of the best tracks on the record is that vocalist Mikkel Holm reaches deep into his throaty side and encompasses his delivery into a raspy, coarse style that gives a creat contrast to the treble-charged distortion otherwise. Regrettably, Yung seem to be gradually shifting in the other direction: introducing more and more indie rock elements and ironing out the rough edges that once gave this band a buzzing energy that made them sound so convincing. Now, they match with their British post-punk peers but without enough strong material to stand out.

Download: Progress, Autobiography, Above Water
For the fans of: Cloud Nothings, The Strokes, Pavement,
Listen: Facebook

Release date 22.01.2021
PNKSLM Recordings