There’s a jarring juxtaposition to be unearthed on Yung’s latest output and the follow up to their critically acclaimed ‘Alter’ EP. The band of youthful Danes have solidified what it is to be young and growing up in the industrial city of Aarhus – Denmark’s second largest city next to Copenhagen. ‘These Thoughts Are Like Mandatory Chores’ straddles the line between unhinged exuberance and withdrawn apathy – Frederik Nybo Veilie’s drumming injects some urgency into the mix and at times the caustic blasts of post punk noise invokes pendulum swinging temper tantrums. On the other side of the adolescent scale, the quartet’s latest EP can drag its heels and meander without purpose, akin to the lethargy spirited up when a teenager has to help around the house or tidy their room – its music that shrugs and then explodes with hormonal unpredictability. Figurehead and vocalist Mikkel Holm Silkjaer’s drone-like voice only muddies the indifferent waters – especially on the downbeat closer ‘Too Good For You’. Although Silkjaer breaks from the dirge on ‘Offshore’ with a vocal that flits from choral to acerbic, again illustrating the contrasting aesthetics at the heart of Yung.

Denmark’s second city bleeds into ‘These Thoughts Are Like Mandatory Chores’ leaving behind a grimy residue that attributes to the outfit’s mechanical, gritty sound. You can hear the hum and clank of machinery as Yung either power through motorik bursts of punk on ‘Blue Uniform’ or the grinding whir of ‘It Happened Again’ which has the band reimagining psychedelia but in dour monochrome. ‘Offshore’ and ‘Blue Uniform’ share a conjoined DNA with both tracks pushing the six minute park and each concluding in a repetitive hum of thrumming bass and clatter of a factory production line.

‘These Thoughts Are Like Mandatory Chores’ perhaps speaks for itself – it’s those last two words ‘mandatory’ and ‘chores’ that typify Yung’s latest instalment as the Dane’s can sound like they’re merely fulfilling an obligation rather than creating music for the love of it.

Words and thoughts of Adam Williams