Richard Youngs

Richard Youngs, a multi-instrumentalist based in Glasgow, launched his recording career in the opening years of the 1990s through a succession of independent outlets. His catalog traverses pure experimental terrain, instrumental works, minimal constructions, and avant-garde forms while also encompassing folk-derived songwriting and progressive rock. In songwriting contexts his approach recalls Robert Wyatt and Anthony Moore, most distinctly aligning with fellow Glaswegian creators John Martyn and the Incredible String Band.

Within his more experimental collaborations alongside Simon Wickham-Smith and Brian Lavelle, the resulting sonic density mirrors the 1990s noise underground exemplified by the Dead C, Sun City Girls, and White Winged Moth.

Youngs placed the albums Advent and Festival on Table of the Elements and additional independent imprints; Majora and VHF handled both solo releases and partnerships with kindred figures such as Stephen Todd and, most frequently, Wickham-Smith. Across an extensive body of recordings that touch numerous musical domains, a consistent thread persists—an uplifting, defiant, and playful spirit that unifies the projects through their evident delight in a private, music-centered realm. Far from remaining obscure, Youngs maintains an international network of publishers and listeners.

In 1998 the Japanese imprint Meme issued House Music, a Youngs recording that bypassed anticipated dance explorations in favor of candid domestic sessions captured with his father; taken literally, the title yields rhythmic door slams, stairwell crescendos, and assorted sounds produced by treating the architecture itself as an instrument. The early-1990s release Advent stands as a minimalist landmark; recorded solely with kazoo and acoustic guitar, the work nonetheless reveals intricate layering that situates it within the domain of American avant-garde minimalists Tony Conrad and Terry Riley, tempered by the relaxed posture of a post-punk autodidact. Earlier experiments prefigured Autechre and Oval by dismantling digital systems, a preoccupation documented across the Radios series, while at the opposite pole Youngs joined forces with English folk-revival figures Shirley Collins and Bert Jansch for folk-inflected mantras that also reflect the influence of moonlight recordings.

Devotees of intimate sound find many of his albums captured at home on portable equipment of varying fidelity, yet the results consistently yield distinctive timbres from kazoo, guitar, Casio organs, clock chimes, synthesizers, kitchen implements, and small percussion. Parallels emerge with the Tall Dwarves, whose domestic-recording practices seeded New Zealand’s lo-fi movement, and with 1980s Rough Trade and Creation acts including the Raincoats, My Bloody Valentine, and the Pastels; like those artists, Youngs extracts charm from inventive deployment of modest recording means. Limited resources produce colorful, eccentric outcomes that reach emotive heights, as on Sapphie, the 1999 mournful suite honoring a departed friend of that name. Although prior sonic experimentation remains audible in the meticulous detail of his releases, Sapphie marked a decisive turn toward folk-oriented material.

He next surfaced in 2001 through a partnership with Japanese guitarist and Acid Mothers Temple leader Makoto Kawabata and on the solo album Making Paper. May appeared in 2002, Airs of the Ear the following year, and River Through Howling Sky in 2004. Eschewing frequent live appearances, Youngs prioritized his primary vocation as author and columnist on vegetarian cuisine. Nevertheless, 2005 brought a notable bass contribution to the first public performance by the reclusive Jandek, preserved on Glasgow Sunday. Later that year Jagjaguwar released Naïve Shaman and VHF issued Partick Rain Dance.

Youngs persisted in refining his compositional and recording methods. Autumn Response, issued in 2007, presents intimate songs performed solely on acoustic guitar with generous application of digital delay to voice and strings, imparting a dreamlike atmosphere. In 2009 he delivered Like a Neuron on Dekorder alongside the concise, emotionally charged Under Stellar Stream on Jagjaguwar, the latter featuring voice supported by bass, organ, harmonica, minimal percussion, piano, and synth. The prolific pace resumed in 2010 with Beyond the Valley of the Ultrahits, his initial foray into pop conceived through his singular lens, followed by two additional limited-edition releases on smaller independents.

Although concerts remained anxiety-inducing and were generally confined to Glasgow, Youngs embarked on a New Zealand tour late in 2010. After the early-2011 appearance of Amplifying Host he toured the United Kingdom with Damon & Naomi. That year also yielded Long White Cloud on Grapefruit Records, an excursion through experimental folk, country, and rock, and the more vanguard Atlas of Hearts on Apollolaan Recordings. Over the ensuing two years four limited-edition albums emerged on various labels, among them the rockist experimentalism of Amaranthine for MIE Music and a full reversion to avant-garde language on Core to the Brave for Root Strata.

During 2013 Youngs proved both prolific and mercurial. Summer Through My Mind, the first of six releases that year and issued on Ba Da Bing, offered a near-direct engagement with folk and country. Months later the double-length electronic set Regions of the Old School appeared on MIE Music, spotlighting a guest turn by Madeleine Hynes on “Celeste.” Output eased in 2014 with two albums: the limited-edition dubwise noise exercise Primary Concrete Attack and the lo-fi vanguard acoustic recording Red Alphabet in the Snow on Preserved Sound. Two electronic works followed in 2015—Radio Bus Station, issued on CD-R, and the LP-only Unicorns Everywhere.

The composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist has frequently observed that “folk music” encompasses an overly broad array of generic narrative forms. He addressed this through the conceptual Inside the Future, which, via original material, traces how folk’s roots extend toward unexplored musical horizons; the album interlaces poetic lyric abstraction, recognizable melodies, and experimental recording techniques, incorporating guitar and zither contributions from his son Sorley Youngs before its January 2016 release on Glass Records Redux. The Varispeed Etudes arrived in March, while December brought The Rest Is Scenery, a song cycle built exclusively on single minor chords ascending from E minor through successive octaves. Although guests including son Sorley, Pete Aves, Jane Sayer (aka Johann Sebastian Barking), and Frances McKee of the Vaselines participated, Youngs stated in the accompanying press materials that “this remains a collection of songs that can be covered by anyone within hours of picking up a guitar. Liberated from dexterity, all that is required is the holding down of two fingers and a steady strum.” In 2017 he issued the collaborative This Is Not a Lament, featuring appearances by Trembling Bells, Alasdair Roberts, Vibracathedral Orchestra, and additional artists.