Richard Youngs
The Naive Shaman

Richard Youngs, active since the early nineties, is one of the most exciting entities that the current music scene can offer us. A young multi-instrumentalist from Glasgow, Youngs has repeatedly demonstrated an extraordinary talent and prolificacy, as well as an inspiration, at least for now, seemingly inexhaustible.

His music, though handcrafted, is cultured, refined, and to frame it, it is fitting to evoke a big name like Robert Wyatt. Not only for his ethereal falsetto that so much reminds us of the King of Canterbury, but also and above all for the extraordinary ability to combine songwriting and avant-garde, all naturally at the service of expressing the most sincere emotions. Youngs’ work is born in the warmth and intimacy of the home dimension, which, however, is miraculously transcended by rarefied, spiritual, dreamlike atmospheres. But far from those who improvise as artists strumming a children's xylophone poorly, Youngs is undoubtedly one of the most credible exponents of a scene, the lo-fi, that risks imploding on itself, a victim of its own complacency and the mistaken idea that attitude and method create content (as rightly pointed out by Hal these days in his review of the Ralfe Band).

Youngs' art is pure expressive freedom, in which analog and digital intertwine with simplicity, tact, and elegance, travelling along the tracks imposed by the feelings and emotions of the moment. Therefore, various and improvised instruments are resorted to, but without disdain for technology and innovative and original recording techniques, and this is why his music is a miracle of improvisation, spontaneity, yet at the same time reflection, meditation, a desire to pursue well-defined conceptual patterns.

"The Naive Shaman", from 2005, is part of a series of works in which Youngs decides to focus on a single instrument, chosen each time as the voice to express his emotional substrate. In "The Naive Shaman" the chosen "instrument" is the voice. Though he does not possess extraordinary vocal abilities, Youngs, humbly embodying the role of a "naive shaman", delights in exploring the evocative potential of his falsetto, limiting himself to surrounding it with minimal but effective instrumentation. Infused with panicky obsessions, "The Naive Shaman" effectively plays on the contrast between Youngs' ethereal, liturgical, shamanic singing and the restless bubbling of minimal, tantric electronics, dominated by the sounds of an impalpable and rarefied bass, occasionally brightened by sporadic guitar arpeggios and the distant drumming of hand percussion that lend the whole a vague ethnic flavor.

"Life on a Beam", "Illumined Land", "Once It Was Autumn" are pagan prayers, songs that float and get lost in the rarefaction of the infinite cosmos. A melancholy that fades into spiritual sweetness, nostalgia, the desire to dematerialize and merge (again) into something larger. The lyrics, hermetic and with strong symbolic connotations, strike more on a musical level than for their message. The lyrical dimension itself takes a back seat and immerses itself in a design where the medium of music as such prevails. Notable among the significant episodes is the hypnotic "Sonar in my Soul", a sort of "spatial trip-hop" supported by a looping bass line and voices overlapping in enveloping litanies: definitely the most "lively" moment of the work. Also worth mentioning is the concluding "Summer's Edge II", an extensive 16-minute free experiment that presents Youngs at his most psychedelic and improvisational: sound intertwines that revisit and mimic the sensations of ascension and panic penetration that must have inspired the artist in creating the work, which, from this perspective, certainly succeeds in its intent.

This album has been depicted as a masterpiece of our times. I would rather speak of the heartfelt work of a genuine, courageous, and humble artist. A talent that, by virtue of its undeniable artistic and expressive potential, is able to transcend labels, rise above stylistic scenes and trends, and silence with music the hysterical chatter of journalism hungry for new revelations.

Only time will tell if we are witnessing a piece of history. For now, let us simply immerse ourselves in this timeless, seductive music and through it, merge into the Universal Spirit to which Youngs himself seems to aspire. Ohmmmmmmmmmmm