New Young Juvenile Youth: More For Me, More For You

Well, thanks, more is better!

Young Juvenile Youth popped up in the second half of 2013, and with second EP More For Me, More For You, I’m ready to call them one of the most interesting new acts going into 2014 in Japan. The collaboration, between singer Yuki and producer Jemapur, creates relatively sparse tracks focusing on the vocals, their songs mixing in plenty of unease to make them easy to come back to. Jemapur’s production goes a long way to nailing down this effect on their latest – a track like “Optique” could be a straightforward bit of trip-hop nostalgia, but his music works in sprays of acoustic guitar and reversed noises that give the song a hair-tingling edge. Jempaur’s sounds also meld nicely with Yuki’s vocals – she’s not a showy singer, but her muted delivery and decision to jump between Japanese and English adds an air of intrigue to these three songs (and she steals the show on “Bitter,” making repetition sound especially sweet). Their best moment comes on the title track, which is the best negotiation between the pair. Jemapur crafts a smooth (but creaky – sounds like there are floorboards deep in the mix) that allows Yuki to flex her intimate delivery. Oh, and Magical Mistakes contributes a solid remix to this too, if you needed further reason to listen. Check it out below.