Dawn of the Freak

The Haunted Youth

Dawn of the Freak

(Mayway)

The debut album from The Haunted Youth opens with a short rough, yet simple instrumental and closes with a lofi acoustic heart tugging ballad.  The eight tracks in-between are some kind of amazing collection of postpunk pop wonders that are so streamlined and perfect that they play like a greatest hits album from a pioneer of the genre.

Joachim Leibens, from Belgium, has managed to learn from the past.  Over the years, especially before MP3s and streaming changed the music industry forever, occasionally, an “alternative” artist or band would sneak a catchy song or two into mainstream radio.  I’m talking about songs by Modern English (“I Melt with You”), The Church (“Under the Milky Way”), The Cure (“Just Like Heaven”), or especially The Psychedelic Furs (a few), among others.  These were triumphant moments for those of us who were exhausted from the overplayed pop hits that we mostly heard on the top 40 radio stations that us folks in small towns were pretty much stuck with.  These random breakthroughs would spur on discovery of new and unusual music that we had to hunt down in the nearest cities, and these would lead us to other artists.  These artists were different.  Generally, more experimental, thought-provoking and interesting.  Generally, they had more insightful lyrics and sounds.  They were often darker in sound, but still tied to the idea of pop hooks.  It’s as if The Haunted Youth have cleaned out any of those variations and failed experiments that were buried on those old albums, and put out a collection that is so unrelentingly focused that every song sounds like one of those breakthrough hits.

“Broken,” the first song I heard from them, is an epic breathy anthem, whose guitar chorus is magical and downright exciting!  So many of these songs have very few lyrics - mainly a few lines, repeated at key moments, a sturdy rumbling bassline and beat, some spiraling or scratchy rhythm guitars, and nothing to get in the way of the point.  “Teen Rebel” is super infectious, though a bit odd.  The vocal is kind of a snotty retort to the so-called Teen Rebel, who is “always wanting something more.”  Though, it could be irritating, these lines are sung/spoken atop a Chameleons-like bed of guitar reverb, which is always great.  If one were to remove the bass and drums, this song could qualify for an Ambient genre all-time classic.  All of the singles, like the hand clapping addiction that is “Gone,” or the scratchy simplicity of “Shadows,” and the sing along attraction of “Coming Home” (opens similar to New Order’s “Procession”) should be international blockbusters. 

There’s a no frills/no bullshit thing going on here that I dig and I think a lot of people would to.  A great example of this is the song “I Feel Like Shit and I Wanna Die,” is exactly what the title implies.  No sugarcoating.  No nonsense to obscure the message.  No room for interpretation.  The music is stunning – something similar to an early OMD ballad.  So is this album.  I’m anxious to hear more!

(https://thehauntedyouthofficial.bandcamp.com/album/dawn-of-the-freak)

The Haunted Youth "Broken"