Posts Tagged ‘David Le’aupepe’

GANG of YOUTHS – ” Let Me Down Easy “

Posted: February 22, 2019 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Australian band Gang of Youths have been getting both critical and commercial acclaim Down Under with an absolutely fantastic second album, ‘Go Farther In Lightness’, leading them to sell out pretty much every venue they play in Oz. for some reason their success doesn’t seem to have reciprocated over here in the UK akin to how successful DMAs have been, but recent radio play for their single ‘Let Me Down Easy’ is sure to bring them to the attention of the wider public.

The first music I heard after landing in Austin was a cascade of metallic-guitar harmonics, cut into declarative power chords and shot over breakneck hard rock as if Mogwai had taken off at the speed of Blue Öyster Cult. Then singer-guitarist David Le’aupepe took the noise to a higher plane of debate with his earnest, preacher’s cry in “What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out,” an anthemic knockout from Go Farther in Lightness, Gang of Youths’ second album and an award-winner in their native Australia last year. The band was founded in 2012 in Sydney, where members were attending an evangelical church, and there was an air of the early, brazen U2 in “Atlas Drowned” and “Just Say Yes to Life” – but with more guitar-drums bedlam, razing feedback and sly classic-rock touches like guitarist Joji Milan’s Queen-like skids in the latter song. Gang of Youths played another, longer set the next evening, opening up their songbook and spreading the firepower. But there was a striking sense of hurry and mission to their four-song day-party blitz at Sidewinder, as if their lives and our spiritual fates depended on the connection. Le’aupepe introduced “Just Say Yes to Life,” with a reference to his father, who is ill with cancer. The singer spoke about the fear of impending loss and the inspirational lesson that has come with it. “He lived a life and said yes,” Le’aupepe declared. “So don’t fuck around. Just say yes.” The music followed with affirming force.

Music video by Gang of Youths performing Let Me Down Easy (Audio). (C) 2017 Mosy Recordings under exclusive license to Sony Music Entertainment Australia Pty Ltd

GANG OF YOUTHS – ” Go Farther In Lightness ” Best Albums Of 2017

Posted: December 25, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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How to follow a debut album about cancer, which established your band as one of Australia’s most important? By crafting a near-80 minute opus split into three parts, each separated by grand orchestral interludes that take their titles from the psychoanalytic concepts of French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Jacques Lacan, that’s how. Frontman and songwriter David Le’aupepe has never been one to shy away from the grandiose, and so it is that Gangs’ second album wears its heart well and truly on its sleeve, moving from the widescreen Springsteen-esque storytelling of opener “Fear and Trembling” to the dense, string-laden ruminations of “Achilles Come Down” and the heartbreaking “Persevere”. It’s the ARIA Album of the Year for a reason.

Go Farther In Lightness deserves to be ranked with the very finest rock albums of 2017, no matter the country. Released in August — in the midst of ho-hum duds by North American arena-rock acts such as Arcade Fire and Foo Fighters  Go Farther In Lightness stands as one of the year’s most exhilarating “big” guitar-rock albums, delivering anthem after heart-busting anthem with a potent combination of instrumental muscle, lyrical insight, and Le’aupepe’s impassioned vocals.

Go Farther In Lightness extends beyond just the expansive tracklist, which clocks in at nearly 80 minutes over 16 songs. It is also baked directly into Gang Of Youth’s aesthetic, which balances furiously uplifting basement-show ragers like “What Can I Do If A Fire Goes Out?,” one of the year’s best and most immediate rock singles, with orchestral flourishes like “Achilles Comes Down,” a stunning “Eleanor Rigby”-style ballad scored for a string quartet by Le’aupepe himself.

The grand music suits Le’aupepe’s sweeping lyrics, which weigh heavy philosophical questions about the meaning of life, death, and conservative icon Ayn Rand, whom he despises, among other topics. When asked about the influences on Go Farther In Lightness in a recent interview, Le’aupepe listed a virtual syllabus: Martin Heidegger’s Being And Time, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being by Milan Kundera, lots of Nietzsche.

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GANG OF YOUTHS – ” The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows “

Posted: December 21, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“Go Farther in Lightness” earned Gang of Youths a whopping four ARIA awards in their native Australia but largely fell on deaf American ears and the rest of the World, which is strange considering it sounds like a Girl Talk-style mash-up album of every indie rock band thats been popular over the last decade. Over 77 minutes long , the record packs in a healthy mix of the Gaslight Anthem, the Walkmen, and its most obvious comparison, the National. The band breaks into a Springsteen stride by the second track, which sees frontman David Le’aupepe questioning his Christian faith, and from there they never break their pace. It’s odd to describe an album that debuted at number one in Australia as “overlooked,” the rest of us has some serious catching up to do.

Everything from modern Czech authors to ancient Greek mythology gets a liner note reference, but it’s the heartland rock scale-shift from grandiose (“a sky full of light”) to personal (“I am grieving the loss of myself”) that makes this a standout on the best Aussie album of the year. “The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows” is from the New Album “Go Farther in Lightness”

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GANG OF YOUTHS – ” Heroes ” David Bowie Cover

Posted: January 17, 2016 in MUSIC
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Gang Of Youths gift us a stirring cover of David Bowie's Heroes

People around the world are paying tributes to the Goblin Prince in all manner of forms, and Aussie lads Gang of Youths are here in honouring David Bowie by releasing a magical rendition of Heroes. The cover replaces Bowies 70s sound with a Gang of Youths signature Kansas-esque strings backing and a marching kick drum, as well as dreamy synth and guitar hooks. Front man David Le’aupepe possesses one of the most intensely honest voices you are likely to hear, This uniquely authentic vocal soars over the whole track, something I’m sure Mr. Bowie would have been very pleased to hear.

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Le’aupepe writes on the bands Facebook page, “At the risk of being trite, Heroes changed my life. The melody accompanying “I, I will be king/and you/you will be queen” is to me, not only the finest melody the Thin White Duke ever wrote but among the finest ever written period.”

i wish i had some ornate or choice words to express how sad i am at the moment but i don’t, so i figured the best way for me to remember David Bowie was to cover the first song of his that i ever heard.

at the risk of being trite, “Heroes” changed my life. the melody accompanying “i, i will be king/and you/you will be queen” is to me, not only the finest melody the thin white duke ever wrote but among the finest ever written period.

and if you listen to the synth line in the end chorus of our track “radioface” very, very closely you can hear a small nod to “Heroes”.

GANG OF YOUTHS – ” The Positions “

Posted: January 14, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Talk about turning a negative into a positive. When in 2012 David Le’aupepe’s then-wife received the news that the cancer she’d beaten into remission had returned, the singer turned to music as a coping mechanism. Enlisting the help of his best friends, he started writing and recording songs, some of which would end up on Gang of Youths’ debut album, The Positions. At times heartbreaking (“Knuckles White Dry”), at points uplifting (“Magnolia”, easily the most upbeat song you’ll hear about a near-suicide attempt), and always affecting, its 10 songs heralded the arrival of a songwriter who could distil love, hate, life, pain, heartache and joy into a song, and with him a band capable of bringing that vision to life in incendiary fashion. Together they took an album cloaked by the spectre of death and turned it into a celebration of life.

Cleverly contrasting the sarcastic social media presence of frontman and founding member David Le’aupepe, Gang Of Youths debut full-length The Positions is a deadly serious affair, brimming with the pure honesty and emotional weight behind Le’aupepe’s rollercoaster of a relationship with a girl diagnosed with terminal cancer.

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Whether it’s the brief but eclectic synth leads of ‘Restraint & Release’ or the subtle orchestral elements of ‘Kansas’, each of the album’s ten tracks bring forth something that make it stand out, all of which are only further accentuated by Le’aupepe’s gloriously diverse vocal range and attention to detail. The Positions is one of the most promising debuts to come out of Australia in a while; not only does each song drive such melody and emotion, but also the dedication and raw talent is simply undeniable