One of the songs of the summer has arrived in young friend’s newest release “CRASH COURSE”. The project of 22 year old Drew Tarves, young friend’s sound is an electric combination of a variety of genres all wrapped up into the perfect package of inventive alt-pop. 

“CRASH COURSE” finds young friend speaking directly about a relationship and the feelings of being a burden. Layering melancholy lyrics with punchy guitar and energetic drums, “CRASH COURSE” immediately grabs your attention and pulls you along for the upcoming collision, enjoying the frenzied ride along the way. The chorus is so impossibly catchy that I haven’t been able to get it out of my head for days, and the range and modifications of vocals throughout the track is unforgettable. Co-produced by Marinelli, “CRASH COURSE” has created a sonic frenzy that is entirely too fun to listen to and even harder to turn off.

The visualizer for “CRASH COURSE” doubles down on the dazed frenzy of the song, beginning with Tarves splayed out on the ground next to his motorcycle after a fresh crash. Throughout the video, we see young friend driving frantically on both his bike and in a box truck, singing in the back of a moving truck with a small band behind him, and stumbling through his surroundings in an attempt to catch his bearings. The video progressively gets more and more stimulating visually, with the height of the song flashing from scene to scene as young friend blasts through his emotions in the back of the truck. The end of the video finds Tarves in seemingly two separate crashes with a red-washed screen taking us back to the beginning of the video’s motorcycle crash before cutting to him driving into bright lights in the box truck and shielding his eyes from the oncoming impact. Starting and ending the video with the motorcycle crash seems to reference young friend’s knowledge of himself feeling like a burden in the relationship, and the box truck collision at the end feels like his fear of being a burden actually coming true. 

“CRASH COURSE” is an absolute must-listen and must-watch for any lover of alt-pop, indie, or rock. You can stream “CRASH COURSE” on Spotify and watch the visualizer on YouTube. Make sure to also catch up with young friend on Instagram and Twitter - I promise you definitely don’t want to miss more of his meteoric rise on the indie-pop scene.