Dying Adolescence is the recording project of Syndney’s Michael Barker and his friends. His latest release Dear You, It Can’t Wait, charts Barker’s experiences upon finishing high school and turning eighteen, and offers a glimpse at that very awkward stage of late-adolescence, a stage in which pining over pretty girls and contemplating universal mysteries go head-to-head for the brain’s attention. The album is made up of lean indie pop songs with vocals reminiscent of recent artists such as Alex G, as well as British bands from a few years ago such as Let’s Wrestle. The songs have a slightly twee romantic lyrical aesthetic which captures pefectly that feeling of sitting at the back of a classroom thinking about a girl that doesn’t even know your name.
The album begins with an ending. ‘End of High School’ describes that hazy, dream-like moment of leaving the school gates for the final time, a moment rich in contrasting emotions of conclusion and promise. ‘Last Night’ is a song about another classic young person worry, this time an unrequited crush (“you don’t know me but its alright / and i’ll never be the guy you like”). But it’s not all doom and gloom, the song itself is actually pretty catchy and fun, especially when the drums get all cymbal-crash when he sings “I’ll never be the guy you liiike” in the chorus.
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=4112647660 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=3212845900]
‘Walk Home’ opens with one of those deeply philosophical daydreams that I’m sure we all have when walking around alone “i question my life / here on planet earth / what my existence is worth”, while ‘Why Are You so Cool?’ is sunny and lovelorn, about a trip to the beach, eating ice cream and laughing and saying bye bye to your sweetheart when its time to go. ‘Coast (Beach Life)’ is another beach song, describing what I can only assume is what everyone in Australia does every day (“we go out to the beach / you take me out to the sea / we sit down and eat some chips / we make out on the sandy seats”). At the halfway point is ‘Dying’, the track which approaches the album’s themes head-on, the sound of adolescents determined to appreciate and enjoy things while they’re still bright and young. As the title suggests, ‘Sartre’ is an existentialist bedroom pop song (“everybody is all alone / living this life its all unknown / all the love you feel and get / that’s all an illusion”), and ‘Thoughts’ has a surf rock vibe with a peppy drum machine and offers a moment of clear-eyed contentment:
“i fell asleep last night without a thing on my mind
my eyes start to hurt from those bright stars in the sky
when the moonlight hits the floor it shows the way
and i’m stuck on planet earth and its okay”
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=4112647660 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1986389624]
‘Scared of Life’ is pretty self explanatory (“i’m just a little bird don’t let me out into this world”), before the album closes with ‘Flowers’ and its big reverby guitars and declarations of devotion. Dear You, It Can’t Wait is an examination of a period of life that is conflicted in many ways, and Dying Adolescence’s sunny pop sensibilities and sometimes less-than-happy vocals are a great representation of this. Press play and feel like a blissfully free and incredibly terrified 18-year-old once more.
You can get Dear You, It Can’t Wait on cassette or a name-your-price download via the folks at Z Tapes.