Jerry's Pick: "The Others"

"The Others"-WhenYoung

The deadliest residential fire in the United Kingdom since the Second World War occurred just two-years ago this month.

The fire -- started by a defective refrigerator on the fourth floor while most residents were sleeping -- spread quickly throughout the 24-story "banjaxed" Grenfell Tower apartment complex in West London. Witnesses reported seeing people trapped inside the burning building, some jumping out of windows to their deaths, others -- some holding children -- switching lights on-and-off or frantically waving and screaming to firefighters below, all desperately seeking rescue.

When the smoke finally cleared in North Kensington, the world learned that 72-residents had died there.

This month I added “The Others,” a new track recorded by a recently formed British-based, Irish trio named WhenYoung. It’s a 4-minute uptempo production of jangly guitars and seemingly jaunty lyrics. It didn’t take long before I was hooked on their refrain interspersed with “AH-Ah-ah”s.

But, after a dozen listens, I became curious about the very first words of the chorus and -- after a Google search -- discovered a concerning layer just beneath the lively instrumentation of this compelling composition.

“Ignorance is peaceful/That’s how the others died, that’s how they’ll die again.”

On June 14 of 2017, WhenYoung lead vocalist Aoife Power was employed by a landscaping company which serviced high-end clients. Aoife explained to DIY Magazine: “On the day of the Grenfell Tower fire, I was working in West London, and I could see all the smoke and ambulances, and it was so sad. I was waiting for the rest of the gardening team to get there, and work just wasn’t going to happen. Seeing everyone on the street, coming out of their massive houses and looking up at this fire in the sky, I was just crying.”

This indignation eventually evolved into inspiration based on what Power deemed an obvious socioeconomic divide.

“Just knowing that all those rich clients in their huge houses live about two roads away from this. The song tackles the ignorance of the community around the area, and how forgotten these people have become.”

Guitarist Niall Burns summarized, “Living in safety should not be a luxury.”

Personally, I fell in love with the power, punk and passion of “The Others,” especially after discovering the message in their music.

WhenYoung effectively uses the word “others” as dismissive much like the pronouns “they” and “them” have often been used racially and -- as utilized here -- by the “haves” to describe and separate themselves from the “have-nots.”

The mood becomes a bit somber and more telling when you arrive at the song’s lyrical high-point -- the middle-eight -- featuring words that take on their uncaring “out of sight, out of mind” narrative.

“Just around the corner, that's a different story/They're the salt of the earth, but not sure what their worth is/Go on and turn the news off/Crying, screaming, shouting/Brushed off your cold shoulders/Show your poor mouth/Forget about it, drink up…”

In context, those last five words are everything.

There are shades of the Ramones and the Clash in the guitar work, but I found comparisons to the Cranberries unavoidable. Like Delores O’Riordan, Aoife hails from Limerick, Ireland… has become a lyrical activist… and clearly retains her Irish brogue when in front of a microphone. Aoife explained to M Magazine, "It's pop and punk and sad and angry lyrically, but musically happy." That seems to be the Irish way.

I feel “The Others” is so good on so many levels you'll find yourself listening to this WhenYoung single "again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again... and again."