Young Werther
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia | SELF
Music
Press
SINGLE OF THE WEEK!!! (Beat Magazine) Wednesday 20th Feb 2008
YOUNG WERTHER Treasure EP
'Young Werther is a terrifically sweet local band led by Mick Young and named after the semi-autobiographical vessel of a young Johann Goethe. In honour of their sorrowful namesake, they play impassioned drifts of folk pop with heavy-hearted lyrics; beautiful in an aching sort of way. Delicate rivers of finger-picked guitar flow through the record, while Mick sings in gorgeous poetic shivers about epic love and distant shores.Through the vivid, painterly strokes of Cornish Green, the rain-spattered lament of All Their Secrets and the restrained grace of Come On Back Here, this record wraps you in its arms and slowly seeps into your skin.'
By Simone - Beat Magazine Wed 20th Feb 2008
- Beat Magazine - Melb, Australia
Discography
Young Werther
'Knights of the Department Store' 2010 album
'Treasure' 2008 - mini album
Tracks available to stream at
www.myspace.com/michaelyoungmusic
The Restless (Mick's previous band)
'Pace' single - 2005
'The Restless' LP - 2004
'Clayfire, Burn Your Day' EP- 2001
'Fear of the Water' EP - 2000
Tracks available to stream at www.myspace.com/restlessthe
Photos
Bio
Young Werther makes music that wraps you in its arms and slowly seeps into your skin. Abounding tales of epic love and distant shores, Young Werther casts an Australian eye over worldly themes, geographical landscapes and brings something very unique to alternative folk music.
Born to a family of butchers and farmers Mick Young began life in a small Australian mining town in the shadow of the mystical Grampians mountains. Initial dreams of a luminous Aussie rules football career fell away when he caught sight of a pig hanging from a hook in his dad’s shop. This macabre image prompted the impressionable Mick to listen to his creative ancestry – his grandmothers being poetess and painter and his father a passionate drummer and vocalist.
On moving to Melbourne, Mick formed The Restless in 2000 and within 4 years the band released two EPs and an album, from which two singles received Richard Kingsmill’s (Triple J) ‘King Pick’. The band also gained airplay on Radio 1 in the UK, College Radio in Canada, and toured Australia extensively, before disbanding in 2006.
Slowly piecing together songs under the moniker Young Werther, Mick found the perfect outlet for his pop-tinged folk songs and delicate singer-songwriter sensibility. In 2008 Mick recorded the stunning release ‘Treasure’, a collection of six tracks which showcase Mick’s powerful lyrics coupled with gentle acoustic guitar and lush instrumentation. The first single ‘Cornish Green’ was named Single of the Week by Melbourne’s Beat Magazine and received 5 stars from Triple J’s Caroline Tran.
In 2010 Mick teamed up with indie producer Nick Huggins (Kid Sam, Seagull) to make Young Werther's debut album 'Knights of the Department Store), which features a 5 piece band and take the music into rock/folk/pop territory.
Mick has shared stages with the likes of Clare Bowditch and The Audreys, Kate Miller-Heidke, Katie Noonan and Paul Dempsey to name a few.
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