Initially formed as a musical collective between Nicholas Lussier and Charles Dahlke in high school, The Brazen Youth have evolved into a three-piece with the addition of Micah Rubin to fully capture the ambient atmospheric sound that defines the project. With their debut album, The Ever-Dying Bristlecone Man, releasing in 2016 the band is getting ready to release their sophomore album, Primitive Initiative, in the next year. In the meantime, they have released their latest double single – “Back of My Mind/Death:posed.”
When asked about the direction that they decided to go with their new sound in Primitive Initiative, Nicholas of the band stated, “In ‘Death:posed,’ we were really trying to create sonic progression through the use of dynamic and melodic sources, rather than through the usage of chordal structure. And honestly, if one were to listen to the chordal structure, they’d notice that the song is basically a loop of the same three chords — which slowly grow larger with new tensions. We thought that tensions within the chords might have an interesting function in giving the song more certainty, or more frustration within the concept. After the chorus, the riff enters the song. We wanted this portion to sound inevitable, or as if it’s the only possible sound that should exist in that moment. The chords stay the same, the instrumentation basically stays the same — however, each instrument with the capability of doing so progresses dynamically, until the song explodes.”
Staying true to the title of their upcoming album, The Brazen Youth has grown over the two years since their debut and this is clearly evident in the instrumental progression and lyrical evolution demonstrated in “Death:posed” and “Back of My Mind.” By choosing to simplify the chordal structure of each song and instead focus their attention on sonic buildup and evolution of their lyrics, The Brazen Youth have evolved as a band as they progress into the next stage of their careers as artists. Listen below.
