New Music: Isolated Youth – Love Locked in a Dark Room

Inspired as it is by the words of Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, Love Locked in a Dark Room by Isolated Youth is not your usual exploration of 80s-influenced post-punk.

An early taster for the Stockholm-based band’s Miserere Mei album, the track is doomily romantic in the style of a 19th-century Gothic novel, thanks not just to the vivid and visual lyrics, but also the melancholic presence frontman Axel Mårdbarg brings into existence.

Sonically, it is very evocative of a period between the primal nature of punk and the lush sombreness of post-punk, rather like Bauhaus and The Birthday Party, but possessing the poetic lyricism of The Chameleons or Joy Division. Listen to this by candlelight for the greatest effect.

Says guitarist William Mårdbarg Love Locked in a Dark Room is about, “Being out on a ‘cold, dark, violent night’ and, to some extent, feeling trapped in nightly environments without an escape plan.”

“Or perhaps like being underwater and looking up to the surface, finding someone else in this setting, and suddenly realising later the same night that there’s something bright and pure that cuts through the noise and brings you back above the surface.”

“Then, everything else that happened feels like a nightmarish, strange dream, and in that moment, realising that you don’t want the other person to leave… Like love locked in a dark room.”

Miserere Mei, which was co-produced by Faris Badwan and Max Hayes, is set for release on the 4th of April. You can pre-order the album in vinyl, cassette, and digital formats on Bandcamp. For album news and streaming details for Love Locked in a Dark Room, hit up Isolated Youth on Facebook and Instagram.

Header photo by Emma Jones