By Emily Marshman
Recommended tracks: Rose Coloured Glass, Ache, Deadlocked, Lucid
Vancouver-based Youth Fountain, founded in 2013 as the brainchild/musical outlet for founding member Tyler Zanon, are finally releasing their first full-length project. After recruiting Cody Muraro to work on “Grinding Teeth”, the penultimate track off their debut EP, Youth Fountain, and the titular track off their first EP, released in 2017 under the name Bedroom Talk, Zanon’s solo project became a two-piece. Popular among fans of Movements, Real Friends, and The Wonder Years, the up and coming band are going to be one to watch in 2019.
Fresh off an early 2018 signing to American label Pure Noise Records, boasting a roster with pop punk veterans such as The Story So Far, State Champs, and Transit, Letters To Our Former Selves is an extension of the band’s first EP, comprised of tracks off of Youth Fountain as well as some never before heard. The four tracks off the album that stood out are “Rose Coloured Glass”, “Ache”, “Deadlocked”, and “Lucid”.
The third track off the album and one of its singles, “Rose Coloured Glass” is about the possibility of rekindling a relationship with someone from your past – and all the reasons why you shouldn’t. It’s catchy and you’ll find yourself tapping your feet, finding the beat before you realize you have. The alternating vocals from Zanon and Muraro spice the song up, make it feel more like a collaborative effort. “Ache” takes things a little slower, the first on the album to do so, and is the second shortest song at only one minute and forty-three seconds long. “Deadlocked” is my personal favorite – it’s an open and blunt conversation about mental health, a confrontation of the parts of suffering not normally discussed.
Letters To Our Former Selves is very reminiscent of pop punk from 2012-2014, what could arguably be called the golden age of pop punk, but it puts its own unique spin on the genre. More punk than pop, Youth Fountain have arrived on the scene and are here to carve their own path, make space for themselves, their instrumentals captivating and their lyrics as honest as they come.
Youth Fountain are currently out on tour with Can’t Swim, Homesafe, Save Face, and Former Critics. They can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Pure Noise’s website, and their own website, as well.
