The Positions

About

Gang of Youths’ debut album is quite literally a matter of life and death. Penned by vocalist/guitarist David Le’aupepe in part to cope with the cancer diagnosis of his then wife, the situation was complicated by the fact their relationship would soon crumble. His former partner’s illness casts a long shadow over the album—witness the haunting piano ballad “Knuckles White Dry” (“Coughing up blood is the worst-case scenario/I promise you won’t die, I swear…”). Epic closer “The Overpa,” meanwhile, uses the red and white taillights passing the couple in Harlem one evening as a metaphor for the blood cells coursing through her vein. The emotional toll of it all comes to a head in “Magnolia,” which catalogs the day Le’aupepe intended to throw himself in front of a train, only to be intercepted by police (“Hold on, officer, I know that I’m a danger to myself”). Ironically, it’s the album’s poppiest song. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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