Seven years ago, I had the unique pleasure of reviewing Kristeen Young’s debut release Meet Miss Young and Her All Boy Band.  At the time I noted her potential, as an edgy P.J Harvey meets Kate Bush songwriter, with a penchant for bizarre lyrics and near-progressive tempo changes.  For me she fell largely off the radar, while still releasing Cds (Enemy in 1999 and Breasticles in 2003) and touring heavily in the Northeast.  Somehow an early version of her new disc X made its way to Studio M, and I was anxious to hear how her music had evolved in seven years.

First off, we are confronted with an interesting concept.  On X, Young has taken each of the commandments and given it a little twist.  On each track, Young makes a case for why it might make sense to break each commandment.  Much like Kieslowski’s masterful Dekalog film, she makes a compelling argument to twist assumptions and view them from new angles.  Some of these are more obvious- such as how much fun and beneficial it can be to just make shit up.  All writers already know this.  But Young’s approach “Lie for new life- if I think it, sell it, then I own it. Need some fiction Fake, make or break – away- bend it, twist it, front it, spin it there's no limit. Truth has no use,” is both disturbingly and profoundly true.  Similar approaches to adultery (And now he's mine, babe. Don't care what your last name says) and murder (Now go kill, kill, kill, c'mon, take a stab, you spoiled little brat, never looking back) reveal a dark reality that is largely suppressed from our cultural dialogue, unless of course you're a Nicole Blackman fan.

All lyrical creativity aside, these songs are catchy as hell.  You will have Cold Steal in your head after one listen, I guarantee.  It is Young’s most infectious creation yet.  Yesterday’s Future Man is an off-tempo wonder, a complex and memorable but structurally unconventional pop song.  It also sports the disc’s most affecting string arrangement.  No Other God, a duet with Placebo’s Brian Molko, is likely to get the most attention.  Molko’s helium-high voice is very compatible with Young’s, but it’s not the strongest track on X, largely because it’s the most straightforward.  Lyrically it’s another great concept- using the 7th Commandment (No false gods) in the context of a possessive relationship- you don’t need family or friends, only me.  Very creepy stuff.  The bonus track is a non-duet version of No Other God which, for me, somehow works better than the duet.  It just sounds more consistent with the rest of X.

The disc sounds amazing, with production by the legendary Tony Visconti, who also supplies guitars and all of the bass. Visconti does a nice job of showcasing Young’s unmistakable voice.  Still recalling Kate Bush, her range has expanded into almost Happy Rhodes territory, and some of her cackles and wailings on X are truly surreal and refreshingly uninhibited.

It is my contention that Miss Young remains one of the most overlooked artists out there.  X finds her with an engaging and timely concept, but more importantly a collection of songs that dig into you like ten fingers, and leave scars long after each listen. Until a label is shrewd enough to pick this one up, copies can be had from:
http://www.kristeenyoung.com