Emmy the Great

Euan the Mood for Some Younghusband?

Bill 3 Comments


Euan Hinshelwood plays in Emmy the Great‘s band (he’s one of two Euan’s in the band, actually, or at least he was) but makes his own music too under the name Younghusband. (I’ve written about Euan before.) Unlike Emmy’s lovely, confessional folk, Younghusband is more indie pop oriented, owing a lot to The Go-Betweens and other jingle-jangle melodicists.

While it began as bedroom recordings with three 7″s on Culturedeluxe, Younghusband is now a proper band and have just released their first record in two years — a new 7″ on the Too Pure Singles Club. The A-side, “Carousel,” is a swirling dream that got a post punk backbone with a Sarah Records shimmer. The b-side, “Nothing Nothing,” is more straight-up pop not that far off from The Shins (like first album Shins).

MP3: Young Husband – Carousel

I’ve met Euan a few times when he’s been over in NYC with Emmy, a super nice guy, but never once did he tell me — and I only just learned this today — that he was in short-lived mid-’00s band The New Shapes who put out a few great singles, such as this one (and it’s Stonesy b-side that I actually like more).

MP3: The New Shapes – You’ve Got Me Running Round
MP3: The New Shapes – A Song About a Girl

In related news: Emmy the Great will be over in the States in two weeks.

Altar Boy

Bill 1 Comment

Emmy_younghusband
When UK neo-folky  Emmy the Great was here in March to play SXSW (and NYC) she was flanked by two, yes two, Euans as her accompaniment. One of them, surname Hinshelwood, makes music on his own under the pseudonymn Younghusband. Both are signed to Culture Deluxe in the UK and while we wait for Emmy to release her much-awaited debut (finished but not out till next year) might I suggest you check out Younghusband’s debut EP, The Judas Cow?

Where Emmy’s music is fully within the folk idiom, Younghusband are steeped in ’90s indie rock, citing Grandaddy, Pavement, and Hefner as influences. Which is pretty obvious when you hear it — and it compares favorably to all three. All four songs are super-catchy, though “Mirror Man” (not a Human League cover) is my favorite:

MP3: Younghusband – Mirror Man

You can get The Judas Cow and his “They Could Be Jealous” single from a variety of sources, including iTunes and Emusic.

UPDATE: Looks like Emmy will be in NYC for CMJ in three weeks. Hopefully she’ll have Euan in tow. He figures prominently in the new song she just posted on her MySpace page, the Mary Lou Lord-ish “Burn Baby Burn,” which is really good!