Blue Yüth - Blue Yüth

Blue Yüth

Blue Yüth
​self-released; 2020

By Dino DiMuro

Blue Yüth is the creative project of Pierce Cole of Vancouver, British Columbia who was inspired to start making music after hearing “Being Boring” by the Pet Shop Boys. Cole is also a fan of John Maus, Lust For Youth, Black Marble, Light Asylum, Molchat Domas, Q Lazzarus and Depeche Mode (this relative old timer also caught whiffs of Gary Numan and Berlin). 

Blue Yüth is an EP of five songs, and runs about 21 minutes. Cole created his music using the Elektron Analog Keys sequencer and an MPC Live drum machine. The tracks were mixed by Paul Stewart at Vancouver’s Watch Yer Head Studios and mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering in Montreal. Aside from the aforementioned credits, Cole is a little stingy with background info, so we’ll have to depend on the music itself.

For the synth pop genre, Cole’s vocals are excellent and on-the-nose, both solo and in harmony with himself. The songs are vocal heavy with pleasingly retro synths, almost always percolating at medium speed. This pattern is set immediately with “Oedipus” which features a beat and urgency that reminded me of Billy Idol’s Dancing With Myself.  “Jonathan Taylor Thomas” is a minor pop classic that I prefer to call “In Your Motorcade,” thanks to the lyrical conceit: “Won’t you take me away with you tonight / while my dreams are bright and yearning / you can call me, I’ll come running / and we’ll drive away / in your motorcade.” The energy here brought pleasant memories of “Metro” by Berlin. I also love this wry couplet:  “Look at your pretty picture, I wonder where you are / I’ve got my CD playing, my favorite - Wonderwall.”

“My Pretty Girl” is a slower, heartfelt tune that feels constructed around the lyrics and not vice versa. Musically this song takes a few unexpected turns and nearly loses the thread, but ultimately seems cohesive. “O My Lover” has a similar construction where the music does whatever it can to sell the lyrics, though perhaps in a more scattershot fashion.

“Mexico” concludes the set with a bit of a changeup, feeling like a song from a movie taking place south of the border. Lots of robotic drum rolls here along with horn-like synth patches. “I wanted my heart to break / Down the door to your sweet home / Kicked in by an earthquake / Like the Federales of Mexico.”

​Ultimately this set features some strong tracks and a couple that might fall just a hair short, but overall Cole has succeeded in creating new and enjoyable songs in the electronic genre he so obviously loves.

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