Isolated Youth – Iris

The Swedish post-punk band Isolated Youth returned with their second EP "Iris" released on Fabrika records, a year after their debut EP "Warfare". Since then, they have only released the digital single "Voodoo" released in December 2019. With this second extended play, they present us with 5 new stunning tracks.

First track is "Iris", a song that follows in the footsteps of the debut EP "Warfare" and reaches ever deeper into the fatalistic world of the band. Again, we get those forceful guitars, hunting basslines, thumping drums, and Axel’s sentimental unique voice. The video for "Iris" was created by guitarist William Mårdberg, showing cold evening landscapes and some nightlife snapshots besides the band. The track "ICT (Instalment Credit Transaction)" that follows, was the first sample we heard from the EP, released on Youtube a month earlier. A track in which we see that they still retain those ritual and tribal aspects of their older songs "Oath" and "Safety". Also, they still manage to have their distinctive post-punk sonic aesthetic, with sparkling jangling guitar melodies, melancholic rhythms, that exude raw and heartfelt emotions with a voice that seems so fragile and human.

With "Humanoid" things get even more melodic with Axel singing even more emotional and fragile. The song gives you the feeling that the band members have let themselves get carried away by the music, like as if playing in a long emotional jam. Their melodic song writing is also found on "1984", that also has a nice 80’s indie vibe. It’s as if we have the perfect mix of Morrissey and Brian Molko of Placebo in the same song. By saying this, I don’t want to underestimate Axel’s vocal performance. His singing is unique, full of his own personality. It’s just to give the reader a quick understanding of this upcoming band’s sound. The EP ends with the more energetic and jumpier "Ferris Wheel". Here we have more dynamic drums and guitars strumming with more nerve but still retaining the overall mood of the other songs.

Isolated Youth - Warfare

Isolated Youth play that kind of Post Punk we almost forgot about. It’s fragile and beautiful, vulnerable and wild, exactly how it was at the edge of 70s and 80s. From the very first track of the debut work, ‘Warfare’, ‘Oath’ with its emotions, almost ritual monotony, the ghostly world of the old-school Post Punk genre is created, which gains flesh and blood on following ‘Warfare’ as well as Coldwave and ethereal flair and fits very naturally in the release. ‘Safety’ then is closer to the modern perception of the genre chosen by the band, but without loss of general authenticity, while ‘Gold Lane’ has a lot in common with something from the segmented Dark Folk / Neofolk genre. ‘Seasons’ again is changing the main style of the project to the orthodox, vintage, but of current interest. ‘There is yet a reason for us to bloom’ is the debut release of Isolated Youth that illustrates their own words really well. This band has big future in the form we can see on ‘Warfare’, so let’s wish them rational stability.