A Quick Chat with Tainted Youth

'Bradman House' is your latest EP release. As a duo from Brisbane currently residing in the UK, how has your journey influenced the creation of this project, and how does it represent the evolution of Tainted Youth’s sound?

Ryan - Our shared experience of living outside the UK and moving here to make music was definitely something we bonded over when we first met. We have always been very into UK music like Drum and Bass, Grime, Garage etc. Being in the birthplace of these genres for me is so exciting and inspiring, I know Kathleen feels the same. I think you can definitely hear the indy rock influences from where we grew up fused with UK influences, which I think makes our music a bit different to other Electronic artists.

Your track 'Fire In Me' has been described as an anthem of empowerment. What inspired this song, and how does it fit into the overall narrative of the EP?

Kathleen - An Anthem of empowerment, I love that. We wrote ‘Fire In Me’ when we were kind of feeling unsure of our direction creatively and second guessing ourselves. As small artists, it’s super easy to compare yourself to bigger artists and feel insignificant and overwhelmed, especially when you’re doing everything yourself. We were in a period between releases and weren’t sure if we wanted to continue with the same sound, or pivot and try something new. These feelings of uncertainty were what inspired this song, which is about not giving up on your goals even when your confidence is low. I think this song fits into our EP because, as with all the other tracks, we are talking about topics a lot of people our age deal with and think about every day. 

'Wake Up' carries a powerful energy with its pulsating beats and ethereal vocals. Can you delve into the creative process behind this track and what message you wanted to convey?

Kathleen - For ‘Wake Up’, we kind of started off with the guitar riff, and built the vibe of the melody and lyrics around that. Once we had that we messed around with some different tempos and drum sounds & landed on the jungle breakbeat for this song. We just felt they had so much rawness and power to them. A lot of times Ryan makes an instrumental demo and I’ll write a top-line, which we both then collaborate on until we’re happy. With this song, the message we’re conveying is the idea that sometimes you have to be honest with yourself and realize when a relationship is not working out. Ryan and I have both had experiences with friends and colleagues where we felt that we had grown apart from them, regardless of whether or not it was something we wanted. Although it can be hard, sometimes it’s healthier to admit to yourself that it’s not worth trying to preserve a relationship if it no longer fits into your life. 

With 'Bradman House,' you explore a variety of themes and emotions. How do the new tracks 'Soldier' and 'Endless Summer' expand on the themes introduced in the previously released singles?

Kathleen - These tracks are kind of opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. ‘Soldier’ is about overcoming mental health struggles and ‘Endless Summer’ is about the joy and optimism that is inherent to summer. Ryan and I have both dealt with mental health issues, and therefore felt compelled to express those experiences through ‘Soldier’. We also just both really love summer, you learn to have an appreciation for  that when you live in a cold & wet country. We wanted to write a song that really left like summer but without being super cheesy.
These tracks round out the EP because they continue the theme of exploring topics that we’ve experienced firsthand and are personal to us. But also relatable to a lot of other people. 

Your music effortlessly blends pop hooks with futuristic soundscapes. How do you approach crafting a sound that feels both contemporary and forward-thinking?

Ryan - I think our ethos is to always try something new. It’s easy to go into writing a song with certain ideas of how something should sound, but in reality, nothing should be off limits when it comes to trying new things. You’ll never push your creativity to its limit without being willing to adapt an idea you had in favor of a new one. Kathleen will more often than not write like an entire pop song worth of vocals and then we start chopping it up, rearranging it, cutting bits out and doing all sorts of weird stuff with it to end up with the results you hear. I really enjoy taking something real like a vocal or guitar and making it quite unnatural. The guitar in ‘wake up’ is a good example of that, it’s pretty chopped up and has some notes revered. I think little details in that all threw the tracks give it that ‘forward thinking’ sound as you called it.  

As a duo, how do you balance each other's creative input to ensure that the final product is a true representation of Tainted Youth’s vision?

Ryan - It involves constant collaboration and communication really. We always make sure we are both 100% happy with the lyrics and melody before we record the track, and then we repeat that process with every note or every element in the mix. We are both perfectionists so this can take a while sometimes, but the most important part of collaboration is being honest with each other. If Kathleen is not happy with how her voice sounds in a certain phrase, we will re-record it. If I am not feeling certain lyrics or melodies  will rework it until we are both happy. At the end of the day, we both want to put out the best music we can, and that’s what motivates us to give our input and be honest with each other throughout the writing process.