A well constructed EP, combining delicious synth work with faultless vocals.
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6
YOUTH, an Italia Conti graduate with a flair for creating effortlessly cool electronic neo-pop, brings us her debut EP About You. Coming in at just four tracks, About You is slick and quick, showcasing YOUTH’s incredible vocals throughout.
The EP emerges from opener ‘Low’, using YOUTH’s voice as an immediate hook as she booms with “Trying to get me out of this low”. The track then reverberates in echoes as undulating synths grow and YOUTH’s voice is offset by a higher pitch. A Disclosure-inspired staccato beat joins the line up at a minute in, as ‘Low’ grows in body, becoming a beautifully constructed synth pop track. It’s delicate and clean, with room to breath and lovely layers of synth and piano melodies when the track is at its height.
We plunge into ‘Just For You’ with a deep synth chord, setting a darker tone than found on ‘Low’. YOUTH’s vocals cut through the electronic work with crystal clarity, before the track takes more of a jaunty tone as it heads towards its chorus, producing a laidback track with effortless undulation that gently carries the listener along. ‘Just For You’ returns for the fourth track of About You, for the Young and Sick Re-Work. The reconstruction amps up the synth on the track, offset by a heightened piano melody at its beginning. The pace is slowed down, leaving room for focus on the synth working underneath before the track dissolves into a racing electronic portion. The re-work, with its readily available dance tone, makes YOUTH accessible as a vocalist to feature with big dance names like Sigma, as we have seen from the likes of Ella Henderson. Honestly, I hope YOUTH isn’t taken into that trap; her voice and originality are strong enough for her to make it without falling to stereotypical club music.
‘Tonight’ draws on an RnB inflection, featuring a collaboration with Illaman. The two contrast well, but the rapping destabilises the focus on YOUTH’s vocals that are the strongest element on the EP. YOUTH’s angelic and breathy voice does take charge towards the end of the track, though, to great effect.
About You is a well constructed EP, combining delicious synth work with YOUTH’s faultless vocals.
About You is out now via Camouflage Recordings.
