Sam Austins and Sir Chloe Capture Teenage Euphoria on "Joy For Youth"
Photo: Bryan Hugo Iglesias
By its very definition, youth is a fleeting enigma. If it was eternal, how else would we go about classifying and commodifying nostalgia? With all that being said, despite the universal appeal, capturing the idea of youth or years past is a deeply personal affair that varies greatly from one individual to the next. It is this individual taste of nostalgia, of youth, of teenage euphoria that builds the emotional crux of Sam Austins' idyllic single, "Joy For Youth."
Joined by Sir Chloe, Austins delivers an unassuming yet impossible to ignore love letter to his own ephemeral youth. "'Joy For Youth' is a sonic time capsule, surrounding the aura of childhood bliss and teenage rebellion. I had so much fun getting Dana on this record with me, bringing her to Detroit for the video, to peek a little bit into my world from her lens. It was important to me that the key components of the record were storytelling, exploration, and bravery, which were all quintessential pieces of my youth," shares Austins.
It's beyond fitting then that "Joy For Youth" moves at its own dreamlike pace, calling to mind genres past, from disco to alternative R&B, without ever feeling limited in scope or one-dimensional. And As Sir Chloe's vocals join the fray, eventually melding with Austins', "Joy For Youth" quickly rises to its namesake as an infectious portrait of youthful, carefree bliss.
In many ways, Austins' latest arrives as an atypical teenage angst anthem. All of the elements of rebellion are there - reverberant electric guitars, repeated phrasing that builds to a nigh fever pitch - but it all seems to exist hidden just beyond a delicate velvet curtain. It's a testament to Sam Austins' boundary-breaking appeal, one that seeks to constantly redefine and recontextualize what it means to be an alternative artist.
Listen to "Joy For Youth" below, and keep an eye out for Austins' debut project, Homeless Star, set to release this fall:
