Youbet

Description

The best teachers never stop learning. They listen attentively, remain curious, and allow their discoveries to shape how they guide others. On their new self-titled album as youbet, long-time music educators Nick Llobet (he/they) and Micah Prussack (she) proudly embrace the roles of explorers and guides, sharing three-dimensional musical sculptures so personal and esoteric they could only be released under the name youbet. Created and refined over extensive touring, the album reflects a moment of excitement and determination. Both precise and expansive, *youbet* breaks free from the constraints of home recording and "bedroom pop" to become a more solid, powerful work, undeniably unique to the band. Llobet moved from Denver to New York in 2013 and became known on the local scene, while also forming youbet and composing two albums. But it was his meeting with Prussack in 2022 that allowed them to discover a musical connection of a whole new dimension. From their first collaborations, they realized their unique musical language and their thirst for learning, connecting over a vast array of musical influences and their respective teaching experiences. The duo then embarked on musical experiments, and their year of touring resulted in a new, more polished sound. This surprising depth and communicative warmth are evident from the album's first track, "Ground Kiss," a nocturnal introspection written as Llobet adjusted to single life after an eleven-year relationship ended. The song evokes effort, failure, and rebuilding, set against layers of Big Thief-esque plucked guitars and bursts of distorted frustration. Elsewhere on the album, the duo's varied influences (from The Beatles to Bernard Herrmann's dizzying *Vertigo* soundtrack, as well as flamenco, Japanese noise-rockers Boris, and many others) intertwine as the band forges its own musical language. Co-producers Katie Von Schleicher and Julian Fader complete the album, with the former adding shimmering synth layers and the latter a percussive rhythm hammered out by Prussack's bass. *Youbet* demonstrates Llobet and Prussack's ability to weave an enchanting musical and lyrical expression, playing with the boundaries of their creation. The result is an album that not only breaks free from the artists' previous constraints but reinvents them into a more solid work: the collaborative language of Llobet and Prussack, capable of simultaneously accommodating contradiction, evolution, and connection.