Riding an ocean of emotion with Young Jesus.

Young Jesus

A few months ago I was watching a friend's band at Quenchers, and ran across Young Jesus. Their publicist had sent me their record a while before, and I listened to it, took some notes, and filed it away without writing about it. It was super '90s to my ears—not a huge surprise since they're now on Saddle Creek—and while I dug it I couldn't find an angle in to cover the band. And then I forgot about them. In fact it wasn't until I was looking at their merch table at the show that I recognized the album cover and realized they weren't complete strangers to my ears.

I still recommend the album, but their live show is what converted me and made me realize what a powerful collection of slow building and emotional sonic concoctions the band was capable of creating. I was a bit confused by how huge a crowd they drew until I did a little follow-up research and discovered Young Jesus may now be based in L.A. but got their start in Chicago.

And I call myself a music writer. How did I not know that?

The band's most recent album S/T was digitally released last November, but Saddle Creek will issue it again later this month in physical form, so hopefully that additional promotional push will get the band put on the road and in front of more people, because their live show is really where it's at. That being said, immediately after their show I did go home and bought every single one of their other releases off Bandcamp and never regretted it.

The track below is the final song on S/T, and it's not the most accessible thing on the album, but it is the song that hit me square in the chest with all the feels when they played it at Quenchers. And on a chilly, grey day like today it feels like the right thing to share.