Tracing their origin to when it began as the solo recording project of its founding member Hannes Norvide, Copenhagen, Denmark-based electro pop trio, Lust For Youth went through a radical change of sonic direction when Norvide recruited longtime collaborator Loke Rahbek and Malthe Fisher (guitar and production), and it resulted in their critically applauded full-length debut effort International, an effort that was praised for a sound that drew from the likes of Depeche Mode, The Pet Shop Boys , The Human League and New Order. And if you were a child of the 80s as I am, it’s a sound and aesthetic that’s warmly familiar and nostalgia inducing.
Now over the past few years, the Danish electro pop trio have become JOVM mainstays — and you may recall that I wrote about that I wrote about “Better Looking Brother,” and “Sudden Ambition” the first two singles off the their sophomore effort Compassion, which was releaesd earlier this year. And both singles further cemented their reputation for crafting melancholic and aching synth pop that was simultaneously dance floor-friendly. The album’s third single “Tokyo” continues on the same vein of the album’s preceding singles but lyrically the song evokes the sense of confusion, loneliness and disconnectedness and wonder of being on the road, as the song’s narrator describes a life of hotel rooms, hotel room food, a brief chance to wander around a town and get a sense of it, the late night crowds and neon lights, the longing for someone who you either can’t have — or is thousands of miles away, removed from your unusual life on the road.
The recently released video for the song was shot by Tokyo residents, who filmed themselves and their daily lives in their hometown — late nights with Lust For Youth fans, who catch their idols playing at a local club, and then speeding off to the next thing, the next adventure or just goofing off with your crew. And in many ways, the video seems to capture young people almost anywhere.
