Album Review: My Lost Youth - You And All Your Friends

Yorkshire pop-punk outfit My Lost Youth have kept it short and sweet with their debut three track EP. Given that the EP’s name appears to be a throwback to early Taking Back Sunday there is a lot for them to live up to with ‘You And All Your Friends’.

Opening track ‘I Won’t Fall’ starts off with drums before adding in guitars then more guitars before the vocals kick off. The vocals are quick and well-articulated, clarity is important and it’s good to give the lyrics the chance to stand out.

‘On Your Knees’ errs more on the side of pop than punk, albeit speeded up and with a bit more bite from your standard pop song. The lyrics are simple but heartfelt and easy to relate to - the repeated refrain of “experience is a name that I give to my mistakes” is blunt and honest and works well in context - which always has to be a key aim for poppunk, a genre built on reaching out to the perpetually misunderstood youth of the day.

The title track closes the EP with the vocal led introduction before the guitars start up acoustically making it a quieter offering than the first couple of tracks until the drums hit and raise the pace about a minute in. It’s a little formulaic but, as is often the case with this genre, as long as there heart is there it works.

Ultimately ‘You And All You Friends’ is a teaser, an introduction to the band that is solid enough to leave fans wanting more but maybe a little too short to grab the kind of attention that My Lost Youth deserve.

4/5

‘You And All Your Friends’ by My Lost Youth is out now and available to download from My Lost Youth’s Bandcamp.

My Lost Youth on MySpace and Facebook.

Francesca Vaney