The Lighthouse (2025) by Social Youth Cult - Music Album Review

Social Youth Cult are a post-punk band based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. 2nd November saw the release of their debut album titled 'The Lighthouse'. This eight track album was recorded at the Bunker in Sunderland, and first single - 'Close to Nothing' was released last month on 18th October. As always, I will just state I have no business reviewing music, but I can only try my best (I am very trying as my friends tell me).

It opens on 'Venus', a booming start that took me by surprise due to not realising how loud the volume on my earphones was. I thought this was a great start, the sound and the singing reminding me of a slowed down version of the manic The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. Next comes first single; 'Close to Nothing', a repetitive beat being the through-line during the five minute introspective Interpol twinged track - another good one. The end of the first third of the album brings 'The Man in the Photo', another great repetitive back beat, with lyrics almost spoken rather than sang, this was possibly my favourite track of the album.
A change of sound for fourth track 'She's Dread' with a classical music starting beat. Slow and ponderous, transitioning into a faster finish, yet another good song that doesn't feel overlong despite the five minute length. Meandering (in a good way) 'Strange Times' is next in line, with 'Dead Space' and 'The Fall' leading things into the end of the album. The later increases the speed from the shoe-gaze feeling previous two. Final track is titular 'The Lighthouse', 5 minutes in length but sped by.

After a blistering start, 'The Lighthouse' settled down into a more slow and thoughtful pace. I felt some of the tracks, particularly in the middle, did sound a little bit similar to each other, but that isn't to say any of the 8 tracks here were bad. A good debut album. Social Youth Cult are currently doing a bunch of UK dates, with Grand Central in Manchester on 16th November, Lubber Fiend in Newcastle on the 23rd, and Mist Rolling Inn at Nottingham on the 28th of this month. Their debut album is out on all streaming services, CDs, and cassette copies available. There will also be a limited run of vinyl LPs.

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