The Haunted Youth’s shoegaze dream of ‘Broken’ takes us through the midst of a lingering heartache
The Belgian band puts you through a melancholy vapour with their mesmerizing guitars and soft, grieving vocals, reminding you of what could have been, and why it can’t be.
Photo: Charlie De Keersmaecker
Through dreamy guitar melodies and lyrics of despair and heartbreak, The Haunted Youth release their new single that makes me want to take a late-night drive in hopes of getting my mind off of an old lover.
The beginning of Broken presents you with a fog of confusion and betrayal expressed within the descending notes of the rhythmic guitars (Joachim Liebens) and the steady drums (Nick Caers). The lead guitar (Tom Stokx) subsequently joins, supported by bright keys (Hanne Smets) and tuneful bass (Stef Castro), with a melody of a misty night with warm street lights, setting you in the middle of suburban asphalt, staring out into the haze of where it could’ve went wrong.
As the instruments become more subdued, Liebens takes over for the lead guitar with his lyrics of aching nostalgia, “Feels like my brain is lost without you / You felt like somewhere I belong / Feels like the heavens fall without you / I’m afraid I’ll stay forever young / Tonight.” This person felt like a commonality in your life, a part of your everyday routine, and now that they have dissipated, it’s confusing and daunting to begin again and reluctantly learn a new way of life without what makes you feel normal.
An alternate guitar melody enters as the music picks up in the second verse, “No you don’t even wanna think about the way it hurts / To see you downtown with another guy.” Although to you, the world seems broken, and you lie in a fugue state of frustration and disorientation, you are cursed with the truth that your “every day” is creating a new routine with a novice. They don’t know them to the depths that you do, and they are okay with hurting you in the process, leaving the memory of a sacred thing behind.
Upon the conclusion of the verses, the instrumentals leave you with the echo chamber of your mind thinking of what you could’ve done different, bouncing around the possibilities of alternate endings, or preferably, no ending at all. You drive through their neighbourhood, circling the houses in hopes of finding a chance for change. Eventually, you drive onto the freeway, stuck with the inevitable slipping of your fingers, and the fog fading into the clear road of your new, bare world.