Gang Of Youths drop new single ‘Spirit Boy’
As Australian-born alt-rock group Gang of Youths prepares for their album drop, slated for February 25th, they’ve been busy releasing singles to get the crowd excited.
Their third studio album, Angel in Realtime, has already spilt quite a few teasers, including the singles’ Unison’, ‘The Man Himself’, ‘The Angel Of 8th Ave.’, ‘Tend the Garden’, and ‘In the Wake of Your Leave’. This new single, ‘Spirit Boy’ appears to be the remaining tease of their return — which will be their first full-length studio album since 2017’s fan-favourite Go Farther In Lightness.
Now based in London and taken to self-producing in Hackney, the band has always exhibited a uniquely clean and full sound, supported by orchestral accents across their discography alongside David Le’aupepe’s bouncing baritone vocals.
While the new album incorporates the self-described efforts towards Britpop, post-punk, contemporary classical, and American minimalism, ‘Spirit Boy’ creeps into the margins with a gentle lo-fi beat, their signature orchestral soundscape, and a spoken verse in Te Reo Māori from musician and Taonga Pūoro facilitator Shane McLean.
A large part of the inspiration behind their third record is the intention of paying tribute to singer David Le’aupepe’s family and heritage, involving a wide array of instrumentation and sampling from the Polynesian islands and the wider South Pacific. Although this eclectic mix of styles already has a lot going on, the spoken verse fits exceptionally well, creating an intentioned pause halfway through the song’s six-minute run time.
Speaking to the inclusion of the verse and the sacred healing practice of rongoā, which was a part of the process, Le’aupepe said, “It was a transformative experience, and I’m still not quite sure why. There was a moment when this wonderful woman looked at me and said ‘you’re a wairua boy’ — wairua in Te Reo means something like ‘spirit’.”
The spiritual experience is an interesting point to bring up, as this song toes the line between sombre nostalgia and uplifting charm — dare I say, reminiscent of their Hillsong roots? But the irony is right in the lyrics, the very first line opening on the words “God died today; he left me in the cold.”
However, this single also goes unapologetically big in the early-2010s vein of Dog Is Dead and Bastille. It’s a sound that many are missing, and if the rest of the album is anything like ‘Spirit Boy’, fans will have a lot to look forward to.
You can listen to the new single ‘Spirit Boy’ below, and check out their new album Angel in Realtime on February 25th.
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