Youth Sector have shared a brand new single, ‘Free Parking’.
The Brighton five-piece are following up on previous singles ‘A Definitive Guide To Easy Living’, ‘The Ball’ and ‘Benign Fire In A Small Room’.
Speaking about the track, they explain: “This one comes from the bones of an old song that got started years ago but it wasn’t quite there. I always liked the riff and I had the “four miles, five miles” sections so never quite tossed it out, and eventually in 2021 had another stab at it and overhauled most of the original song. In all its iterations though, the song has always been about the fear of getting old and boring, and the “four miles, five miles for free parking” line refers to those dull exchanges grumbling about how far you had to go to find somewhere to park. In the final version, the metaphor took a life of its own and morphed into a surreal town planning session where I deal with the logistical issues of finding parking for the residents of a toy village: “these plastic people’s plastic permits only work in the week / how will they meet their plastic pals if they can’t park on the cheap?”
It’s the latest to come from the band’s forthcoming EP ‘Quarrels’, set to arrive on 16th June.
“We recorded ‘Quarrels’ in Leeds which is quickly becoming a bit of a second hometown for us,” they reveal. “We worked with producer Matt Peel for the first time which was a delight – working with Matt taught us to rethink our approach to recording in a lot of really positive ways. Alongside our amazing friend and artist Annie Mackinnon (who did all the artwork) we settled on the medieval theme for the artwork/EP title. It felt appropriate because the themes of the EP songs portray such a regressive, post-Brexit reflection of British life and society that at this moment in time it can feel a little like we’ve moved backwards to a very hostile, brutal country that’s totally out of step with modern aspirations. Not to mention it was also loads of fun commissioning a painting of Nick T being literally murdered by the other band members and an assortment of medieval beasts. The songs feel stronger and more decisive stylistically and lyrically than anything we’ve done before and we’re really proud of the material.”
Youth Sector are set to play Dork’s stage at Live at Leeds later this month. Their upcoming live shows read:
May
27 – Live at Leeds In The Park Festival, Leeds
June
15 – The Dome, London
17- Festival Un Monde… Des Cultures, France
30 – Engine Room, North Shields
July
1 – Munro Festival, Stockton on Tees
21 – Ludlow Castle (with Kaiser Chiefs)
22 – Warwick Castle (with Kaiser Chiefs)
28 – Trebur Open Air Festival, Germany
