It was with some sadness, albeit not unanticipated, that I read the announcement that Youth Movie Soundtrack Strategies, Youthmovies, YMSS, however you knew them, had decided to call it a day. Resulting from an accidental bean-spillage on the Drowned in Sound message boards, and now today via an official MySpace announcement, Andrew has confirmed the decision.
It’s kind of sad mainly because I have had a lot of happy memories stem from this band, from friends I have met, to places I’ve travelled to see them, releases I’ve tracked down, the live shows, and just every time I put their music on. They weren’t the most prolific of bands, although they leave behind quite a body of work, and definitely a back catalogue to be proud of. My particular favourites are the ludicrously-titled Hurrah… EP and their 2008 “debut album” Good Nature. Every time I stick Hurrah… on, I never fail to be just as moved as I was the very first time it clicked with me, all those years ago.
I must have seen YMSS around ten times – I need to sit down and work it out. But I’ve seen them several times in London, once in Leeds, Brighton – and the most memorable of shows at Del’s shed near Kingston. It’s the shows I will always remember – for the aforementioned company the band kept, the frantically beautiful performances, the occasional drunken blushes, and for the unfeasibly pleasant gratitude they showed to their friends and fans (for they were one and the same) whenever they were approached. Andrew has praised the kindness of these strangers for the band’s successes.
And it sounds as though it is an acrimonious ‘split’, with lots to look back on fondly, but just as much to look forward to in terms of new projects from the band’s members. As Andrew fittingly quoted at the end of this year, this decade, this era:
Hurrah! Another year, surely this one will be better than the last, the inexorable march of progress will lead us all to happiness.
To close, just a handful of some of the photos I’ve had the joy to have taken of the band over the past five years or so.
