Music - rock-and-roll in particular - has long championed a fatal fetishization of youth. Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse are probably the most famous recent musicians to join the infamous Club 27, while the 'life fast, die young' mantra can be heard from musicians as varied as Ke$ha and M.I.A.
North Carolina indie pop duo Sylvan Esso (singer Amelia Meath and producer Nick Sanborn) flip the script in what might be the most pleasant way possible. "Die Young", one of the newly released singles from their upcoming sophomore album, What Now, blends a tender poignancy (with a light-headed playfulness), a radio-friendly melody and retro synths:
'I had it all planned out before you met meWas gonna leave early and so swiftlyMaybe in a fire or crash off a ravinePeople would weep, "How tragic, so early"I was gonna die youngNow I gotta wait for you, hunNow I gotta wait for you, hunNow I gotta wait for you, hun'
Lyrics: Genius
The song's refreshing open-endedness matches the stated intent of their upcoming album, which takes on ideas that are personal and political, while exploring an existential context that should be familiar to most millenials:
"[What Now] is a record about falling in love and learning that it won’t save you; about the over sharing of information and the fine line between self-awareness and narcissism; about meeting one’s own personal successes but feeling the fizzling embers of the afterglow rather than the roar of achievement; about the crushing realization that no progress can ever feel permanent".
Sylvan Esso, Paste
