The Young’uns folk trio find comfort in Strangers
THE revival of English folk music carries on apace but award-winning trio The Young’uns bring something different to the table.
Wentworth Courier
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THE revival of English folk music carries on apace on the back of the success of bands like Mumford And Sons and, on the other side of the Atlantic, the Decemberists.
But double BBC award winners The Young’uns are a little different. On first hearing the close harmonies of the three lads from Stockton-on-Tees in England’s north east, Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle, may remind older listeners of 1960s a cappella trio The Young Tradition.
But then you listen to the words of their recent fourth studio album Strangers and you realise these aren’t songs about foxhunts, lusty blacksmiths or lovers lost at sea but inspiring tales of people whom they’ve never met who have “made a difference”.
People like Teeside grandad Ghafoor Hussain (Ghafoor’s Bus) who spent thousands of pounds of his own money converting a bus into a mobile kitchen and driving it across Europe to feed hot meals to refugees.
Or Sybil Phoenix (With These Hands) who became the first English black woman to be awarded an MBE for her work fostering hundreds of children.
As well as having great voices and an unerring sense of harmony and timing, The Young’uns also have a line in wicked banter (check out their live performances on YouTube) and in Cooney they also have a first-rate songwriter.
Three ballads in particular — Be The Man, Dark Water and Lapwing — showcase his superb melodic talent, as well as his fine singing voice.
HEROES
Be The Man is the jewel in the crown and it tells the extraordinarily moving story of Matthew Ogston who set up a gay rights awareness campaign after his fiance Nazim Mahmood took his own life as a result of homophobic and cultural intolerance.
Dark Water is the tale of Syrian refugee who escapes to Europe by swimming across the Aegean.
The five men who tackled a lone terrorist on a train from Amsterdam to Paris are honoured in Carriage 12, but it’s not just modern-day have-a-go heroes who inspire us.
The trick they pull off is the ability to make you laugh and cry — sometimes as the same time. Jaunty tunes often disguise a serious message.
There’s the diary entry of a private in World War I who dreams of the fields and birdsongs of home (Lapwings); and Stockton-born teenager Johnny Longstaff who defied police and stood with the Jewish London East Enders to prevent Oswald Mosley’s Fascist Black Shirts from marching down Cable Street.
The trio use tasteful guitar and keyboard on some of the tracks with some guest musicians here and there. The trick they pull off is the ability to make you laugh and cry — sometimes as the same time. Jaunty tunes often disguise a serious message.
And if the album itself isn’t uplifting enough for you, I urge you to check out their YouTube videos in which they finally meet Ghafoor, Ogston and Syrian Hesham Modamani — now happily settled in Germany.
I guarantee there won’t be a dry eye in the house.
The good news in The Young’uns are bound for Australia. The bad news is we’ll have to wait until 2019.
Strangers is available from Sanity Music for $29.99.