Young Widows - Decayed: Ten Years of Cities Wounds Lightness and Pain (2018)

pushing their restless drive towards the incomparable a little further. Those albums Settle Down City (2006), Old Wounds (2008), In and Out of Youth and Lightness (2011), and Easy Pain (2014) were as bruising as they were brilliant, as menacing as they were mysterious. DECAYED: Ten Years of Cities, Wounds, Lightness, and Pain perfectly charts Young Widows' evolution from inspired post-hardcore trio to peerless entity crafting profound combinations of post-punk, noise rock, heavy psych, and gothic folk. The fifteen tracks in this collection originally appeared on stand-alone singles, b-side, splits with like-minded artists (including Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Pelican, Melt-Banana, and MY DISCO), and rare compilations. Four of them have never been released until now. Of the many impressive aspects of Young Widows' decade-plus run as a band, perhaps most remarkable is the quality and breadth of music they made that didn't appear on their albums. Every song here is a standout track from the evolving eras of the band, and as with all things Young Widows, DECAYED pays respect to the past while planting roots for the future.