Young British Artists
Well-known throughout their home city of Manchester for intensely overwhelming live performances, YBAs have lain low for the past few months after touring the UK with Dutch Uncles, busy writing new material and refining their sound. Subsequently, that sound has become more mature, more defined and somehow more themselves.
After 2 EPs and numerous 7” singles, YBAs entered the Sickroom studio in August of this year with producer Owen Turner (Factory Floor, Broken Family Band) to lay down the first part of their upcoming album. Sickroom was the perfect environment to record the new album. It’s a studio with the vibe of a tree house; a boys’ den where anything is possible, secrets are shared, and things are built from the ground upwards. With Owen on board, YBAs have captured what they’ve long aimed for – a recording that truly encapsulates their intense live performances – the thing that really sets them apart.
With a sound sitting more comfortably alongside stateside surf or looking to the starkness of The Walkmen and Sunn 0))’s doom metal, whatever you do, don’t have them pinned as your run-of-the-mill Manchester band. The guys have addressed and reassessed every note, painstakingly asking themselves 3 important questions; “Does it have intensity? Does it sound well recorded? Does it make you feel both simultaneously as happy and angry? We hope on this record we have ticked all those boxes.”
You could say that. Based around the themes of “trying to figure out what the fuck it is you want to do with your life. And not figuring it out. One step forwards, two steps back” they say, ‘Everything In Front Of You’ is the perfect example of YBAs’ diversity. Side A’s title-track showcases the four-piece’s talent for writing catchy melodies, whereas B side ‘Blood Brother’ shows the band’s roots in deeper, darker, more feed-back infused corners of the musical spectrum.
Quotes :
“The new sound of Manchester – urgent but not rushed, shoegazery but looking up at the stars, fuzzy and distorted but bright and fresh – expect big things” – Piccadilly Records
“All fuzz, melody and driving‚ there are no half measures here, it’s not altogether instant but then again if something is worth sticking with it rarely is” – Bearded Magazine
“Well constructed catchy indie pop. I reckon these could be the band to watch out for” – Norman Records
“Quite obviously ones to watch” – Artrocker
