Youth Worshippers

Yesterday, between finishing work and meeting a friend, I mooched in a record store to kill some time. Within about ten seconds, this song started that instantly grabbed me. Questioning the chap behind the counter, he told me it was Saturdays = Youth by M83, and advised me to hang around a while to hear more of it.

Being in one of my more impulsive moods, I got through two more songs before hanging the cash over. The song that grabbed me, Kim & Jessie, sounds fabulous. Synth hooks, dreamy vocals and a great chorus that doesn't wear thin even after numerous repeats at the end.

Hearing it was probably the only way this would happen, as the album cover was enough to make me think "hmm... no" - a collection of angsty looking teenagers with fancy haircuts. Indeed, it seems that the general theme of the album is a celebration by head honcho Anthony Gonzalez of those years between 13-19. Again, if I'd known this beforehand, it would have put me off somewhat.

The reason for this is that my own teenage years where, for the most part, completely bloody awful, and any kind of romanticism of that period of our lives tends to bring snorts of derision from me. And I suspect anyone brought up in a town like mine (small, stuck in the middle of nowhere) spent the latter part of childhood sat in their room wanting to be older, so they could get the fuck away to somewhere else.

Certainly this was the case for me. I was spotty, skint and stuck at school - the main thing keeping me going was the thought I'd soon be old enough to a) not live with my parents b) drive a car and c) get served in the pub. The latter actually occurred pretty early: when you're 6ft 4in tall by the age of 15, it's not tricky to get a beer. At least on the rare occasions I actually had £1.50 or so spare.

For similar reasons, I always hated those soppy dramas based on teenagers that tried to confront "issues". Dawson's Creek in particular was the kind of thing that made me think the Trenchcoat Mafia might have been onto something. Groups of irritatingly attractive actors, moping in constantly autumnal settings, usually having lots of sex. And they always seemed to live in pleasant middle class areas, with big houses and cars bought for them by their parents.

Perhaps the problem is that there's never been much of an accurate portrayal of what counts as normal adolescence for most people, primarily for the reason is that it's so fucking dull and it takes a very talented soul to make that mundane existence into something entertaining: Sue Townsend's seminal early Adrian Mole books winning the prize for that one.

Despite these misgivings over apparent lyrical content, it doesn't get too much in the way of Saturdays = Youth. It's rare for me to enjoy modern music, but my appreciation of this is doubtless down to the 80s style synth tones and spaced out atmospheres that recall early Slowdive. Impressive stuff, and I'd go as far to say Kim & Jessie is my favourite single since Please Stand Up by British Sea Power.