Youth Valley - 'Untouched'
Greece’s Youth Valley shares heady and hazy indie on ‘Untouched’ taken from their 2020 self-titled EP.
That Greece’s Youth Valley should name themselves after the utopic idea of a place “where you can claim the right to know what you need to heal from. In this place, beyond the pain, depression, and fear, lies a unique personal truth and happiness that everyone deserves to take with them when they leave” is fitting. It’s an idea that bleeds through into the band’s aesthetic, their heady and hazy compositions bridging the gap between the blissful and the melancholic.
Indeed, it’s their latest single ‘Untouched’ in which this feels most prominent. Backboned by irresistibly icy syncopated guitars, it’s almost five minutes of atmospheric alt-pop that explores ideas of isolation and depression within its sensitive subject, who “realises the need to grow and accept the fact that the world will not understand them”.
Much like the narrative it carries, the track itself is understated though deeply nuanced; the subtle guitars of the verses really coming to the fore throughout the track’s chorus, while an almost indifferent vocal delivery plays perfectly into its wistful aesthetic.
Though harbouring plenty of influence from the likes of The Smiths or The Cure, there’s also elements of more contemporary acts such as Minus the Bear or Death Cab for Cutie at play as well, resulting in a track that feels both familiar, yet utterly fresh. Subtle and sombre, beguiling, and beautiful, Youth Valley are a band worth getting excited about, and ‘Untouched’ is the perfect entry point for one to do so.
Words of Dave Beech