Lust For Youth International LP vinyl LIMITED ED #130/200 +cassette SACRED BONES

$

56

Lust For Youth ?– International

Label: Sacred Bones Records ?– SBR-115
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Numbered, White Vinyl + Cassette, EP - Limited Edition
Country: US
Released: June 2014
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

Condition: (open) MINT sleeves and cassette, vinyl has a small warp in one area that does not affect playback.

Tracklist (Vinyl):

A1     Epoetin Alfa     3:33
A2     Illume     2:38
A3     Ultras     1:26
A4     New Boys     3:31
A5     Lungomare     4:50

B1     Armida     4:50
B2     After Touch     3:57
B3     Basorexia     2:02
B4     Running     3:53
B5     International     3:47

Cassette:
A1     New Boys (I'm Falling Club Mixx)     3:40
A2     International (Remix)     3:52
A3     After Touch (Remix)     7:14
A4     Epoetin Alfa (Liquid Teddy Gram Remix)     2:47
B1     Illume     3:01
B2     Lungomare (Remix)     5:07
B3     Armida (Incongruous Drum Mix)     4:32
B4     After Touch (Remix)     4:36

If the word “international” instantly triggers a word association with “jet set”, you’re on the same wavelength as Norrvide here. It’s enough of a surprise that a guest spot from Iceage’s Elias Bender Rønnenfelt on “Epoetin Alfa” results in plangent, pinging guitars more reminiscent of Studio than his own band; the subsequent “Illume” confirms Norrvide’s alignment with Scandinavians fascinated by tropical locales, but he does so without the signifiers. “New Boys” and “Running” conjure the buoyancy of Air France and Tough Alliance without the birdcall and bongos, or the subversive playacting.

Norrvide isn’t quite ready to cross the line into the 1990s, though—his ideas of pop are strictly filtered through post-punk, so International is more a logical step forward from his no-fi previous recordings than a giant leap. Incorporating live member Loke Rahbek and producer Malthe Fischer, Lust for Youth are a trio now, and the arrangements of International are at least three times as sophisticated and accomplished; what were previously one or two-note synth figures are now one-bar riffs and full chords.

The crystalline, retro-futurist synths and spotless production could allow for comparisons to Depeche Mode, Human League, and Pet Shop Boys, but that’s if we’re being generous. Norrvide’s not really a lyricist or a personality; he's more of a moaner than a crooner, one who traces the longing melodic lines and placeholder verbiage typical of Bernard Sumner. Though the sound’s more open and inviting, Lust for Youth still remain a mostly unknowable act—the chorused guitars of waltz-timed ballad “After Touch” bear more than a passing resemblance to Def Leppard’s “Hysteria” and render Norrvide’s stiff vocals an afterthought. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the highlight of International is “Armida”, when Norrvide passes the mic to Danish electro-pop singer Soho Rezanejad; it’s still a Lust for Youth song in that it’s centered around the idea of control, but  Rezanejad can sing about losing it, letting go, and moving her feet in a way that would be unconvincing had Norrvide said the same things.

And even if the cold storage atmosphere no longer defines Lust for Youth, Norrvide’s still got his defense mechanisms. “Ultras” and “Basorexia” are perfectly serviceable instrumentals, but they don’t function as interstitials—they just kill whatever momentum Lust for Youth attain with their pop songs, to say nothing of the five-minute spoken-word cut “Lungomare”. Rather than lending International depth, it shrinks the album into an admittedly accurate reca