Photo courtesy of the band.
Berlin-based post-punk band The Underground Youth, led by Blackpool-born musician and author Craig Dyer, have announced their twelfth studio album ‘Décollage’. Due for release April 4th on Fuzz Club, the news arrives alongside the new single ‘You (The Feral Human Thunderstorm)’ and upcoming March/April UK/EU tour-dates.
On album-opener and leader single ‘You (The Feral Human Thunderstorm)’, out everywhere today, Dyer says: “‘You (The Feral Human Thunderstorm)’ kicks open the doors of the new record. As the opening track it encompasses the mood of the whole album, walls of crackling hip-hop drums, layers of strings and background noise, repeating and building, old tape chewing its way around the reel. Lyrically it’s something of a romantic country ballad, but dragged through an entirely different and new sound for The Underground Youth.”
Self-written, recorded and produced by Dyer, ‘Décollage’ is an exercise in artistic deconstruction in both name and form, marking a decisive musical shift for The Underground Youth. “‘Décollage is the art of creating an image by ripping, tearing away or removing pieces of an original existing work’. My idea was to apply this technique to music”, he explains. “I built walls of static coated hip-hop drum samples, layers of Lee Hazlewood style string arrangements and Serge Gainsbourg inspired mellotron melodies, then I began tearing away at these beautiful, chaotic walls of noise.”
The result, Dyer says, is “a trip-hop infused soundtrack to a collection of lyrics dealing with adoration, ancestry, originality, hallucinations of revolution and a hope that something better can be born from the ashes of the horror that exists in our world.” From moments of ghostly minimalism to sweeping crescendos of noise and melody, there is a shadowy, dreamlike quality to the songs here. If its predecessor ‘Nostalgia’s Glass’ (2023) mined a more introspective nostalgia, ‘Décollage’ feels more hauntological in nature – tearing apart and re-transforming what once was in search of a future left spinning from reel-to-reel on warped and distorted old tape.
Alongside Dyer, The Underground Youth is comprised of drummer and visual artist Olya Dyer, guitarist Leonard Kaage (who also assisted with post-production on the record) and bassist Samira Zahidi. Initially formed as a solo project by Dyer in 2008, the band has sinced released 11 – now 12 – studio albums and 4 EPs, evolving a unique sound that has over the years ranged from cinematic lo-fi psychedelia and raw melancholic post-punk to gothic folk-noir. Throughout they have maintained a devoted global following continuously built upon by the band’s extensive touring through Europe, Asia and North America.
UPCOMING SHOWS
28/02 – ZURICH, CH – Club Zukunft Closing Festival
07/03 – PRAGUE, CZ – Futurum Music Bar
08/03 – BRATISLAVA, SK – Pink Whale
09/03 – BRNO, CZ – Kabinet MÚZ
03/04 – LONDON, UK – Rich Mix
04/04 – BARCELONA, ES – Barcelona Psych Fest
05/04 – MADRID, ES – Café Berlín
02/05 – DRESDEN, DE – Ostpol
03/05 – MUNICH, DE – Zirka
16/05 – VEYTAUX, CH – Château de Chillon
17/05 – LYON, FR – Sonic Lyon
18/05 – MARSEILLE, FR – Le Molotov
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