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| Folk | Singer-songwriter Buy | Listen Link | mp3 | 320 Kbps |
The case of Damien Youth is curious. With a career of over three decades and a large discography as an indelible registry of the way traveled, the scant information on the musician and the lack of diffusion of his work are hard to believe, particularly after one has weighted his material.
Bride of the Asylum is not only one of the true forgotten gems that can be found within his more than twenty albums, but also a criminally underrated landmark in the spectrum of subterranean music, from which Damien Youth certainly comes from. This is a record of a-temporal, a-historical folk, suspended in time; an album that has a universal character that is based, perhaps, on the simplicity of its sound, forasmuch as a good part of Bride of the Asylum relies on the most primary creative formula: a man and his guitar. And even when that format appears decorated –always with subtlety– by relying on different arrangements, Damien Youth's music never losts that trascendence.
On the other hand, whereas musically it is posible to trace some far references, such as Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake –in its most delicate moments– or even Syd Barrett –when it adopts a psychedelic character–, its the lyrical quality of Damien Youth's compositions what earns him a distinction, which involves the lyrics per se, his vocal performance and the amazing melodic lines that he weaves in each of the tracks of the album. There are no songs in Bride of the Asylum that don't stand out in this matter.
Bride of the Asylum is not only one of the true forgotten gems that can be found within his more than twenty albums, but also a criminally underrated landmark in the spectrum of subterranean music, from which Damien Youth certainly comes from. This is a record of a-temporal, a-historical folk, suspended in time; an album that has a universal character that is based, perhaps, on the simplicity of its sound, forasmuch as a good part of Bride of the Asylum relies on the most primary creative formula: a man and his guitar. And even when that format appears decorated –always with subtlety– by relying on different arrangements, Damien Youth's music never losts that trascendence.
On the other hand, whereas musically it is posible to trace some far references, such as Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake –in its most delicate moments– or even Syd Barrett –when it adopts a psychedelic character–, its the lyrical quality of Damien Youth's compositions what earns him a distinction, which involves the lyrics per se, his vocal performance and the amazing melodic lines that he weaves in each of the tracks of the album. There are no songs in Bride of the Asylum that don't stand out in this matter.
The genius of Bride of the Asylum glows by virtue of the pure honesty and genuine passion that Damien Youth puts in every second of this album. It is there, really, where the seed of a work as remarkable as this lies. —IMF
