There aren’t too many good things to come out of illness and disease. Two of them, however, are the first two releases from Sydney band Gang Of Youths. While 2015 was hit by the massive and anthemic concept LP The Positions, 2016 is inevitably going to become enthralled by its follow-up EP, Let Me Be Clear.
Noted by the band as songs that were imagined up during The Positions sessions but didn’t quite fit at the time, Let Me Be Clear is still very much about the heavy topic of cancer, relationships and loss, while also being slightly more angsty. Where The Positions came to grips with the situations front man Dave Le’aupepe found himself to be in, Let Me Be Clear discusses the situation and scenarios as if they were current. Let Me Be Clear is essentially the B-side of The Positions.
First track is the piano-led, “The Good Fight”. One thing you notice about Gang Of Youths is their willingness to put together extended and wandering six-minute plus ‘catastrofucks’ (their words, not mine). One of these tracks is “The Good Fight”. With the band experimenting with a more in-depth use of strings, “The Good Fight” starts quite beautifully as the husky vocals of Le’aupepe cruise along, before absolutely losing his shit in the closing two minutes. Sitting down to listen to the EP for the first time, I was immediately reminded of Rise Against’s “The Approaching Curve”; not so much for the musical nature of the track, but more or less the spoken word of the closing verses. Funnily enough, the content on both tracks are about arguments and fights.
“Native Tongue” is the sweary song of the EP. It turns out Le’aupepe’s native tongue isn’t English after all. While the closing chorus is where said swears come to fruition, “Native Tongue” is the most traditional rock-sounding track.
Following on from “Native Tongue” is the re-imagined “Strange Diseases”. Initially released as a demo on the bonus disc of The Positions’ physical release, the EP version is more clean cut and filled out, with strings once more making a welcome appearance. While I’m about to sound real hipster wanker, I much preferred the original demo of “Strange Diseases” with its raw, uncut take on the strange disease that is cancer. While the newer version is still great in its own right, the cleanliness of the EP version takes away from the emotion of the original.
Much like “Strange Diseases”, “Sudden Light” was also an earlier release from the band. “Sudden Light” maintains the essence of its original form, however, and then adds some. Speaking of the ever-present fear developed as a result of the unknown variables of illness, “Sudden Light” is a strong point of the EP.
The strongest and most complete song on Let Me Be Clear is The National-esque “Still Unbeaten Life”. Being completely honest, Le’aupepe’s vocals sound more like The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon here than ever before. As the track builds and whirls over the closing two minutes, you’re reminded about the gargantuan effects illness can have on the psyche of those involved; the emotional toll and stages of grief you’re going to experience. This is foremost present through the lyrics, ‘Sticking fingers in our ears/ They said we’ll have a couple years/You’re dead on paper…’ While the content is heavy, musically, the closing minute is the most uplifting moment of the EP.
Closing out the EP with a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”, it’s a satisfying and simple track led by only vocals and guitar that’s a strong close to a release that may end this chapter of the band’s career. For an EP of songs that effectively weren’t ‘good’ enough for the debut album, as a musician, you’d be pretty bloody chuffed to have tracks as solid as these to choose to release as an after thought.
Review Score: 8.4 out of 10 
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Let Me Be Clear is out this Friday, July 29th.
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