Tender Youth return with their sophomore album ‘Turning Torso’, a ten-track record that sees the London-based art-rock four-piece push their sound into more abrasive, experimental and emotionally charged territory. Originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, the band have built a reputation as an energetic and unconventional live act, touring extensively across Europe before relocating to London on a semi-permanent basis. The album is released on September 18th.
At the centre of ‘Turning Torso’ is a fundamental shift in the band’s approach to instrumentation. Leaving the guitar behind in favour of distorted violin, Tender Youth retain the raw intensity of their earlier work while opening up an increasingly unconventional palette of driving rhythms, industrial electronics and theatrical soundscapes. The result places the band in conversation with the abrasive art-rock of Opus Kink and Man/Woman/Chainsaw, alongside the darker electronic textures associated with Depeche Mode and Prostitute.
Across the album’s ten tracks, Tender Youth move between explosive, abrasive passages and moments of greater vulnerability. The stripped-back instrumental concept gives the songs a strong physicality while creating room for experimentation, with the sprawling intensity of ‘Marina Drive’ contrasted by the expansive, textural approach of ‘Portugal’ and ‘Erotica’. Across the record, industrial rock undertones sit alongside a gritty sense of freedom, allowing the band’s unconventional arrangements to become as important as the songs themselves.
For Tender Youth, the move from guitar to violin was driven less by a desire to differentiate themselves and more by curiosity about what the instrument could become outside of its traditional setting. “The violin wasn’t really a decision we made because we needed something to make us stand out. It started more with being fascinated by what it could sound like. You normally hear a violin in a very specific context, and we wanted to take it out of that context and see what else was there. Through distortion, effects and the way we play it, it takes on a completely different quality. Sometimes it doesn’t really sound like a violin anymore, and that’s what became interesting to us. Once we started writing the record around that, it naturally changed the way we approached the songs and opened up a lot of new sides of our music.”
That experimentation quickly became central to the writing process, with the violin effectively replacing the guitar as the starting point for the band’s compositions. “Once we ditched the guitar, the violin became the starting point for everything. It changed the way we wrote and made us discover a completely different sound pushing the genre of rock and punk”
While the music explores new territory, the album’s lyrical focus remains rooted in human connection. Relationships, intimacy, trust and the difficulties of communicating in an increasingly alienating world run throughout ‘Turning Torso’, giving the record an emotional undercurrent beneath its more abrasive exterior. “The album tells a story through relationships, but it’s also about something bigger, how we relate to each other in a world that can feel pretty alienating. It’s an exploration of intimacy, naivety and trust without really judging any of it.”
Tender Youth comprise Tobias Bryld on lead vocals, Vitus Mørch on guitar and violin, Jonathan Mørch on drums and Lau Bang on bass. Their reputation as a live band has been built through extensive European touring, including appearances at Roskilde Festival in 2023 and SPOT Festival in 2023 and 2026, alongside support slots for The Buttertones, Alan Licht and Heavy Lungs.
The album was produced primarily by Laurits Lorenzen and Frederik Schjermer Mikkelsen, with ‘Overtones’ produced by Sylvester Struckmann. Additional production came from Vitus Mørch, Jonathan Mørch and Tobias Bryld, while Jeppe Andersson handled mixing and Emil Thomsen mastered the record.
Following the release of ‘Turning Torso’, Tender Youth will continue their European live campaign with forthcoming shows across London, Aarhus and Copenhagen.
