There seems to be a subculture developing with a penchant for creating ‘soundtracks to films that don’t exist’. Ulver did it, Red sparrows attempted something similar with their instrumental concept albums and now Young Hunting have joined the fray and, perhaps unsurprisingly, they make music that is not a million miles away from the unremittingly excellent Ulver.
Creating music such as this is a thankless task, loved by the few but often, sadly overlooked by the masses, and here Young Hunting have developed a lush soundscape that integrates electronica, industrial, Axis of perdition-esque noise elements and spoken word passages. It’s a lengthy, often exciting, sometimes unnerving, ride into a dark place occupied by screaming infants, damaged mothers and diseased fathers that houses an eclectic range of influences and serves as much to disorientate as it does to elate. Far from commercial concerns and expectations of high-volume marketing, it is a wonderful piece of music that is undoubtedly torn exclusively from its creators’ minds rather than a compromise piece developed in tandem with a promotion scheme. Hence the first track (‘the process of being’) sounds like your audio equipment is suffering some sort of catastrophic breakdown, while ‘separation’ incorporates drone elements and the noise of children playing to form a gentle, if slightly uneasy, musical introduction to ‘of the other’ – a dark, clanking, slithering piece of evil overlaid with the poetry of a diseased mind. A brief segue track ‘extrauterine life is a pretty piece that works well within the greater context of the album before the icy atmospherics of ‘forebode’ comprehensively work over your nerve endings. Slow building and repetitive, it develops its initial theme, becoming louder and increasingly agitated as the track progresses. As a result, the Terminator meets Apocalypse now music of ‘Static arena’, even though it’s coupled with a disembodied voice, is something of a relief as it shifts away from the near unbearable tension racked up in the previous track.
A personal favourite, ‘liminality’ is a cluttered, Aphex Twin / NIN mash up layered with cold percussion and overloaded synths while ‘melancholia’ invokes the sun-spotted wonder of Jesu’s ‘why are we not perfect’ EP based as it is upon a single synth drone intermingled with found sounds and static. ‘The birth mask’ is, perhaps, a stranger animal evoking the sound of listening to Depeche mode, at a club, from the toilets. Muffled and disturbingly indistinct, it is the sound of late-night paranoia fed through the brain of an over-worked office worker who’s overdone the booze and coke. Happily tracks such as ‘provisions for the journey’ offer respite from the whole, allowing you a moment to breathe before you enter the next harrowing phase of the journey that this record encourages you to take. Better still is ‘earth’s ground’ which is simply a perfect summation of the music on the record – eerie, slightly industrial and filled with wonder and fear. Finally, the closing contrast of ‘between dog and wolf’ and the lush finale of ‘mother and child’ sees you leave the album filled with hope rather than fear and loathing, and a sense of wonder that a mere band can take you on such a journey over the course of an eighty-minute record.
Young Hunting ultimately sound only like themselves, but basic reference points include Axis of perdition, Ulver, NIN and Aphex Twin as well as countless soundtracks ranging from John Carpenter’s groundbreaking synth work to the eerie Apocalypse now OST. Like those artists, the music of Young Hunting is best absorbed altogether rather than shuffled on an I pod or randomly selected – this is an album that needs to be experienced from beginning to end and ultimately the mental journey that it encourages is worth taking. The music ranges from the lush pastoral soundscapes of Jesu through to the coldest, most paranoia-inducing industrial imaginable and back again – always interesting and never over long or over the top. While it is unlikely that this will find itself to a mass audience, fans of unique, intelligent and innovative music will find much to admire in this fascinating release.
