Written by Madison Boyce
Two years ago on January 18th, 2019, Albany's Young Culture released their third EP, “(This is) Heaven”. Their first release under Equal Vision Records, this was a huge step for the band and helped put them on the radars of future fans everywhere.
Opening up the EP is “Deluxe”, which sees the narrator opening up about their mental health struggles and how they are on the path to healing. The line “I deserve something more” provides a sliver of optimism in this otherwise dark song.
Next up is my favorite track off of this release, “Breathe It In”, sending a message to listeners loud and clear, that if you want to make a difference, you need to get up and do it yourself. The lines “I got a feeling that we're never gonna make a change / If you just sit there on your ass and only complain / 'Bout how the world is gonna end and we might as well quit / But if you're still alive, then breathe it in” further this theme, saying that if you are still alive then you have the power to make a change.
Picking up the pace immediately after is “21 Days”, which translates extremely well to a live setting. A huge part of being a solid band is having a great live presence and Young Culture definitively accomplishes that.
Slowing things down after “21 Days” is “Never Changed”, a standout track that provides a slower, more relaxed vibe on such a fast-paced release. Vocalist Alex Magnan takes center stage here, singing over a mellow beat with guitars kicking in at the final stretch.
This EP closes with lead single and fan-favorite “Drift”, which conveys the highs and lows of relationships well. The lines “I was high off your love for just a minute / Was addicted now I'm quitting / 'Cause I'll never be what you need / We tried to turn it around when things were different” put listeners in the shoes of the narrator in a vivid way.
To celebrate the second birthday of “(This is) Heaven”, we were able to sit down with frontman Alex Magnan and ask him some questions about the release and the band as a whole.
This EP was your first release under Equal Vision Records. How did signing with them come to be? How did you feel signing to such a big label only two releases in?
Well, to be honest, I felt because we started the band so young it was going to happen earlier. I know that sounds like a spoiled thing to say, but now that I’m older I can see what an incredible thing it was.
At a younger age, I had such high expectations and thought that it would happen off of our first release, and I was so disappointed when it didn’t. Then, we put out our EP “Blue” and we did our tour across the country and came back and played Albany where we got that offer.
I will never forget that day and what that was like. It felt great, definitely.
There was a moment when we were about to go record that it felt like the stakes were being raised, "we can’t mess this up" type of deal. It felt like pressure, but it also felt really natural and I still to this day feel like it was the perfect release for Equal Vision.
How would you say (This is) Heaven stands out from the two prior releases of “You” and “Blue”?
“You” was definitely like a precursor to what our first full-length is. I would say those are two relatable things, but obviously with a big gap in between age difference.
So like, those two are what we set out to have Young Culture sound like, but then I always pair “Blue” and “(This is) Heaven” together because I feel like they’re both us not trying to do anything...just us writing songs.
Doing “(This is) Heaven” was different than doing “Blue” because it was the first time that I had felt that we might actually have a chance at being a legit band and not just doing this for fun. It felt like it was the first time people took us seriously.
Can you explain how you came up with the name, “(This is) Heaven”?
There's a lot of story behind it; we had a few different names, there was a couple it was almost called. We were close to calling it “Casino” and we were close to calling it “Valentine”...I remember I wanted to call it “Heaven, Deluxe” and I still think that would have been the coolest name.
Not to get dark, but for as many amazing things that were going on at that time in my life, it was definitely the grimmest time in my life too. I had never dealt with anxiety or depression before and all of those songs were all centered around that.
The title “(This is) Heaven” was kind of ironic, it was supposed to be sarcastic, and that’s because it was anything but that. The title also comes from a song that we didn’t put on there, it was just a little interlude that we released later on a compilation; it was the first thing I wrote after the EP and it was kind of like the first hopeful thing I had written since as well.
Is there a story behind the cover art?
We tried a bunch of different things and at the time we were four different people, so no matter how similar your ideas are there are always going to be differences. We just went through a bunch of different things and that's what we landed on, where with something like “Blue”, we had this picture and we knew we wanted it to be neon purple.
With “(This is) Heaven” it was pretty much just [our photographer] Danny [DeRusso] sending a bunch of photos from he was staying at a hotel when he was on tour with Good Charlotte (I think?). He just took a picture in a hotel shower and it's that marble that you see; there's something I liked about it because I feel like that image is very calm and that's how I wanted it to look.
Moving on to the songs on the EP, what was the writing process like for “Deluxe?” What would you say about it in comparison to the other tracks?
“Deluxe” was different because that was the first song I had written with [guitarist] Troy [Burchett]. He wasn’t on “Blue”, he wasn't on “You”...that was the first one he was on.
I remember being in my parents' basement and him playing a riff and we were like “yo that's so sick”. I remember being like “this dude's a genius”.
Next up is my personal favorite off the EP, “Breathe It In!” How did this song come to life? Do you think it fits in with the rest of the release?
I don't know, I was just feeling really fed up at the time. Like I said [earlier], I was in a dark place and I was just fed up with people.
That one ties it all in very well, it’s a fun song, but it’s also kind of serious...songwriting is like therapy for me so I’m like, “breathe it in, just remember you’re alive. Annoying-ass people and things that are out of your hands are not everything. You’re your own person and you can have control over this stuff.”
With “21 Days”, where would you say you drew inspiration from?
So “21 days” was also one of the first times where I worked with someone else. [guitarist] Gabe [Pietrafesa], he had made the instrumentals and he had just called it “21” as a working title; 21 days is like three weeks or a month, and the song is just about a grueling month for me.
It's the same type of thing for this whole EP, I know it sounds depressing, but it really was a difficult time. It's a reflection of the period of time after somebody hurts you.
“Never Changed” is definitely different from the rest of the tracks here. Where do you think it finds its place on "(This is) Heaven?"
This is the same type of thing, thematically and lyrically it ties in and it makes sense. Obviously, that was like the first pop thing we did; we had always tried to make pop songs and this was the first one where we incorporated fake drums, keyboards, and stuff like that.
That was an old song too, that was one that was probably written during the “Blue” era, but I kept coming back to it, I still really like it. It was definitely the first time we were experimenting with something new and I knew I wanted it to be a pop song.
Closing out this EP is “Drift.” What makes this song special?
I think that this song really changed my life, you know? It’s crazy.
I didn’t think it was a good song...when I wrote it, it was the same thing, I was in this room and Gabe was having really bad writer's block. I was in a really depressive state and Gabe was leaving my house to go home and we were just hanging out, but I was like “I’m going to try to write now, do you have any one-liners?”
I'll ask him for those a lot because he’s got some cool lyrics. He had “Coast to coast, I always knew you wanted more from me”, and I just sat down and wrote; I thought it was such a beautiful line.
More importantly than the writing, it was the first time we got to work in the studio with Sam Guaiana. We were so passionate and we were so ready to make something, the best thing we have ever done, and I just remember the feeling of that.
Is there any specific meaning behind the tracklist? How did you put it together?
No, I think the only one that had a reason was “Drift” as the last song because it had been out for a few months. So we were like, okay, we'll throw that in at the end and let everybody hear the new songs [first].
We really liked “Deluxe” so we knew we wanted that to be track one. As far as the tracklisting goes I wouldn’t say so much a reason other than it’s just what felt right!
Any stories you want to share about when the EP was recorded?
I do remember we did it in two different times. We went up and we did all the instrumentals over a weekend, didn't do any vocals, and then I went back separately.
I didn’t get pink eye, but I got like an eye infection on the last day and had to just suck it up while we were recording; I was sleeping in the studio and it’s like a warehouse, so it was dusty. I remember sleeping on a dusty pillow and I woke up and my eye was swollen, between every take I was putting eye drops in.
Although live music feels so distant right now, Young Culture is known for bringing the energy at concerts. What would you say your favorite show experience has been in the past two years that this EP has been out?
To put it in one great thing I mean like, “Drift”, how much that song impacted and how that song changed my trajectory and made me realize maybe I am worth it and that I do have potential. It would be one of those things where we'd play a show and people would know the words to “Drift” and it’d still be a shock to me.
People relate and sing along to something I wrote, and I’m still just a kid, you know what I mean? That song is just me talking about my feelings, but it's always been so special to me.
What's the general feeling now that “(This is) Heaven” is two years old? What do you think about what you look back on that release and that period of time?
It changed my life and it kind of made me realize that I can be more than I think I am. Sometimes I still have to remind myself, but it was definitely the first thing that I did where I felt like people cared and that I was doing something worthwhile.
I think that was a very special feeling because that EP really helped me out of a dark place too and everything that it’s done for me and the opportunities it has given me is just incredible. I’m so thankful for it.
Huge thanks to Alex Magnan of Young Culture for doing this interview with us and to the rest of the band for being Legends of Tomorrow supporters from the start! They were the cover band for our first-ever print issue, and you can read another interview with the full band if you were able to purchase one back in the fall.
"(This is) Heaven" as well as the rest of the Young Culture discography is available to stream wherever you listen to music, and you can support the band by picking up some merch via MerchNow and following them on Twitter @YoungCultureNY. If you've listened to the EP, feel free to tweet us @lgndsoftmrw and let us know what your favorite track is!
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