YOUTHMOVIES WRITTEN FEATURE

Youthmovies at Concorde 2 and Freebutt.

I first caught up with Youthmovies before their gig at Brighton’s Concorde 2 supporting Foals.  Youthmovies, or Youthmovies Soundtrack Strategies to those whom abbreviating really long band names isn’t quite their thing – is fronted by Andrew Mears.  Sporting the Math rock fringe de rigueur he looks every part of the scene, which Foals have recently forged ahead in.  Funnily enough though it was Andrew who formed and named Foals as a side project away from Youthmovies but who then ended up leaving to follow the more avant garde creative outlet as shown by their live set.

It is impossible to pigeonhole a band such as Youthmovies and I would go as far as to not hesitate in saying that there isn’t a band who sound quite like them.  The nearest comparison I could probably make would be the bastard child of Mogwai and Radiohead (Kid A era), brought up on Tool, Sonic Youth occasionally catching, and sweating out a disco fever (listen to set opener If You’d Seen A Battlefield on their myspace and you will know what I mean…)

They play to a capacity venue tonight, having been sold out weeks in advance.  Although playing to a packed venue it is only those in the front few rows who seem to appreciate the musical ingenuity of Youthmovies which stems much further than the Math rock genre which they are often labelled for.

With a set lasting 30 minutes which consists of no more than a handful of genre defying songs it makes the audience feel all to easily uncomfortable and alienated from the band, something which the band assured me is not what they set out to achieve.  Performing such a progressive style of music makes it increasingly difficult for the band to encourage audience participation and this seems to show by the crowd response. 

The set features heavily with songs off their debut album ‘Good Nature’, which is released the following day of the gig, although by the time the their next Brighton show comes around it may have proved difficult for anybody interested in getting a copy…

At their headlining show at the Freebutt, Andrew introduces a song off Good Nature and we hear that copies of the album have gone missing in delivery and no-one seems to know where they are – the only way to get a copy is at their live shows although we hope this has changed since going to press, unless this was a rather strange April Fools joke… unlikely I would have thought.  From their press release it asserts that ‘immediacy is the key’, although Youthmovies are seemingly yet to have found the right keyhole (their debut ‘Good Nature’ has been six years in the making).

Since I’d last seen them play at the Concorde Youthmovies had ensued on a 3 week + tour throughout the UK and Europe.  On paper they’d only had one day off, and this was spent in Amsterdam, which was probably less of a day off and more like a day spent getting back ‘on’ it.  Back in Brighton for the second time in just under a month, they almost seem a little surprised, but appreciative of the modestly filled venue.  They come across as flattered that they find an audience that seems to understand what they’re creating, minus those that are here due to the Foals-effect.  (Yannis from Foals is frequently quotes them as one of his favourite bands). Watching Youthmovies is an experience.  Features of their songs such as the acapella section to ‘Soandso and Soandso’ where the chanting vocals reverberate off each other, to the At The Drive In inspired ‘Ores’ keep you puzzled, but intrigued as to what these 5 musicians will come up with next.  If they suddenly broke out into an R&B number followed by some Rockabilly I don’t think anyone would genuinely be shocked.  Each song receives much more recognition and applause than from a few weeks beforehand, and although appearing slightly more fatigued since the previous show, they look, and sound far more comfortable in this more intimate venue.

The gig, cut short by the soundman (now the bravest man in the room) due to the 11pm curfew imposed by the venue brings to the room into uproar with band and audience alike.  This provokes the audience into being the most vocal they’ve been all night with chants for allowing the band to continue and for the soundman to let them play on.  This surely wasn’t the way Youthmovies intended to leave the stage tonight but in doing so they left with more than the desired effect…

Written by Matt Garrity