Conner Youngblood takes us track-by-track through his seductive and spellbinding sophomore album ‘Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly,’ an achingly ambient fever dream and beautifully meditative triumph that soaks the soul in blankets of lush, surrealistic, and cinematic wonder.
for fans of Bon Iver, Frank Ocean, James Blake, Rhye
“Blue Gatorade” – Conner Youngblood
In point of fact, “cascades” is the perfect word to describe Conner Youngblood’s sophomore album.
His music washes over the ears in waves, ebbing to and fro with oceanic grace and a dynamic, free-flowing intensity. Gentle, effected vocals hug the heart while glistening synths and tender guitars soak the soul in blankets of lush, ethereal, atmospheric wonder. Youngblood’s world is intimate, yet ever-expanding; limitless and so full of light, warmth, and raw possibility. It’s an invigorating, intoxicating listen, and one that all but demands repeat listens – if not to understand it, then to simply dwell in the special sonic spaces this artist has created. An achingly ambient fever dream, Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly is a truly seductive and spellbinding reverie.
Heaven knows who will love me
Below the billow, I was drowning
Chew me up and spit me out
Looks can kill. There’s no doubt.
Heaven knows who will love me
Heaven knows…who will love me
I’m sweating that
I’m sweating that
I‘m sweating that
And it’s clouding up my eyes
– “Blue Gatorade,” Conner Youngblood
Released September 6, 2024 via Missing Piece Records, Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly is a breathtakingly bold, beautifully meditative triumph – a vibrant marriage of ambient electronica, experimental soundscaping, and bedroom pop that puts the human experience front and center.
Arriving six long years after Conner Youngblood’s debut album Cheyenne put the Nashville-based artist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer on the map, his sophomore LP heralds not only a return, but also a rebirth: An evolution, or rather a wholesale transformation of the “folk impressionism” (per Pitchfork) he exposed listeners to back in 2018.
For Youngblood, making this album first required stepping away from his art and giving himself space to breathe.
“It was the result of a lot of patience and allowing myself to work on some other parts of my life and come back into music,” he tells Atwood Magazine. “I think I needed a little break from writing after the last album, Cheyenne, just to actually find new things to write about. A lot of the initial sparks I used in order to write the songs were through various movies I was watching at the time of recording and found ways of blending my own life into the film references.”
“I love both [albums] for entirely different reasons. It’s hard to compare the two mostly because my opinion changes almost every day. They are different stories to me. I think this one focuses a bit more on things I wanted to say, while Cheyenne is focused a bit more on things I was observing. Inside looking out (Cascades) versus outside looking in (Cheyenne)… if that makes any sense.”
“I don’t really think I had a ‘vision’ per se while approaching Cascades,” he adds. “I think it slowly just started to take shape on its own from one song to the next as the music basically just took on the form of the life I was leading at the time.”
Youngblood describes his album as a record of surrealism, expressionism, and tranquility.
The title Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly has a symbiotic relationship with the songs themselves, acting as part-blueprint and part-reaction to the art.
“The word ‘cascades’ came first, and the music seemed to follow along after,” Youngblood explains. “It just sort of instilled a guiding tone and vibe for the entirety of the project. And then when it came time to name it, I had a really hard time choosing between just the words ‘Cascades’ or ‘Cascading’ or some combination of the two, or at last, creating a cascade out of the word itself.”
The album itself opens with an intimate prayer: “If I fall before I break, please send my love from an ocean to a lake,” Youngblood sings delicately, his radiant voice hot and heavy on the mic – a vessel of unfiltered vulnerability over a soft, smoldering soundscape of ambient guitars and rich bass. “I’d rip down the mountain standing in my way. Portage my love from an ocean to a lake…” As the song progresses, a musical heat rises, and the full weight of Youngblood’s instruments is realized as the transition focuses off his vocal line and onto the comprehensive aural experience. It’s a cleansing entrance – an emphatic, passionate start that immediately sets the tone for all that’s to come, establishing right off the bat that this record, while not for the faint of heart, will be a rabbit hole of cinematic and surrealistic wonder for those willing to join Youngblood and take the plunge.
Forces– white water rushing through
Open up my heart—codes 1 2 1 2
If you look up.. you see it ain’t there still
Worth it everything from you
Keep turning left, like it was turning loose
While these motions are long overdue
– “From an Ocean, to a Lake,” Conner Youngblood
Notable highlights range from the spirited, dramatic, and dreamy “Reveille!” and the hypnotic, nostalgia-soaked mouthful “Running through the Tøyen arboretum in the spring” to the searing, soul-stirring serenade “Blue Gatorade” and the immersive, hauntingly beautiful “Oh, when I was in love with you.”
“‘Blue Gatorade’ is definitely my favorite,” and I think ‘Solo yo y tú’ at number two,” Youngblood reflects, adding in some of his favorite lyrics as well:
Heaven knows, heaven knows who will love me
So it goes, tiger toes the lines above her
Tongue and cheek fill my mouth…kiss me lover
Bite my lip and bleed it out… kiss me lovely
– “Blue Gatorade,” Conner Youngblood
“This part from ‘Attar’ was a nice combo of a favorite book of mine, ‘The Baron in the Trees,’ a love of trees in general, and a couple of years of sign language classes”:
That feeling stuck
Two fingers to my throat
I rub the wound with
resin of pine/pitch of piñon
”Climb down, climb down…
climb down from your dream!”
– those were the last five words
you’ll ever hear from me
– “Attar,” Conner Youngblood
Ultimately, Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly is a feast for the ears and the soul.
From its all-consuming soundscapes to its provocative and heartfelt poetry, Conner Youngblood’s latest offering demands its audience’s undivided attention, and promises limitless returns for those who comply and follow suit – surrendering to music, and letting it take them wherever they need to go.
“If anything, it got me excited to make more music,” Youngblood smiles. “It was the first time I tried to self-engineer an entire project by myself, and it just gave me a lot of confidence when it comes to being able to create. I hope listeners just find some peace of mind while listening to it. Maybe the next project will be filled with high anxiety.”
Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Conner Youngblood’s Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly with Atwood Magazine as he goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of his sophomore album!
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:: stream/purchase Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly here ::
:: connect with Conner Youngblood here ::
‘Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly’ – Conner Youngblood
:: Inside Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly ::
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From an Ocean, to a Lake
It started from an image of the lake “Sørvágsvatn” in the Faroe Islands, eventually going on a trip to the Faroe Islands, and then never finding the time to actually see the lake. I then proceeded to take that feeling of missed opportunity and letdown and try to flip it into a song about perseverance.
Reveille!
I also actually started the session as a very quick example session to show a friend how Pro Tools worked and quickly sampled a drum machine, and played to random guitar over it just to show how easy making music could be. I decided to base most of the lyrics on the poem, “Reveille!” by A.E Housman, added in some sampled bagpipes, some lovely Sami joiking, and badabing badaboom, we got a song.
Running through the Tøyen arboretum in the spring
This song was actually recorded years – 4-ish – ago. Mostly just about nostalgic type scenes running through my head while going on a run in the Tøyen neighborhood of Oslo. Plus, some good sounds of little kids doing karate for good measure.
All They Want Is Violence
The crazy part about this song only being a one-line long lyrically is the fact that it took me like 4-5 years to come up with. I think I was just finally inspired to say something about violence while watching way too many horror movies. I was watching the 1980s horror film Inferno while writing and recording the vocals. I definitely had Titane on at some point during this as well.
Blue Gatorade
I was watching the French Open and specifically remember Sofia Kenin playing. She was drinking some kinda sports drink—it honestly was maybe red—but the idea of drinking Gatorade and sweating it out was the start. Once the lyrics started flowing, it naturally just became a song about not being in love, nervously/profusely sweating, and said sweat getting in my eyes and clouding my vision. I ended up watching the movie Deep End a few times and that set the tone for the rest of the recording session.
Sårbare
I’ve been learning/speaking Danish for about 8 years now. I had made the beginnings of this instrumental while in Denmark on an out-of-tune piano and recording straight into my laptop mic on garage band. I sat on it for years until realizing that it was sort of a bop and then expanded on the idea. I knew right away that I had to keep the Danish vibe and just go along with the ridiculousness of trying to write a song in Danish for the first time.
Misundelig
When all else fails when trying to write in English, try Danish again. I wanted people to have the listening experience of not understanding the lyrics, yet understanding the vibe. I wrote this one while actually teaching Danish at a language school/camp and had some of the kids help sing along in the background.
Lampi
At that same summer language camp, I spent some of my alone time messing around on the piano at the neighboring Finnish camp’s dining room. The Finnish camp is called Salolampi, which translates to The Pond of the Woods. I wrote this song on the piano in that dining hall and decided to name it Lampi … aka “Pond” in Finnish.
Oh, when I was in love with you
I just really wanted to do something that reminded me of Supertramp, and then I think I was listening to a lot of David Grey, and accidentally put the two and two together during this song. I once again used the poetry of AE Housman (Oh, When I was in Love with You) for most of the words. I had bought his book A Shropshire Lad, and was just obsessed with how musical every single of his poems read and couldn’t help but sing his words to a lot of the songs I was producing, and a couple of them just stuck.
Attar
I had a random week of diving deep into the world of perfumery. I needed to know everything and was fascinated by the way smell worked. I decided to name a song Attar–an essential oil made from rose. This led me to other horticulture imagery and then recalled memories of a favorite book “The Baron of the Trees” by Italo Calvino. In keeping with the theme of language, I actually include a sign language reference in this song—two fingers to the throat—signifying “stuck”.
Closer
On a sad note—a very good friend of mine died, and while staying with his family in Norway for the funeral I wrote this on his sister’s guitar. It was never meant to be more than a little laptop-recorded demo, but I never enjoyed hearing it re-recorded any other way, so I kept it as is.
Solo yo y tú
I wrote this one while reminiscing over my childhood home getting destroyed by a tornado. No joke. But also, as just a good way to practice my Spanish and try to impress my Spanish tutor. It is about the reminiscing about past, taking in the present, and looking towards the future.
スイセン
I took Japanese for years growing up in school and am finally making good on all of the time Odom sensei seemingly wasted on teaching me. I feel like she would be proud. I had wanted to write a song about a Greek mythological figure for a while and decided why not do it in Japanese. A minute-long song in Japanese about Narcissus. The title itself – “Suisen”—is the Japanese word for the daffodil aka the narcissus flower.
Cascades (葉月君へ)
The Japanese subtitle stems from the fact that I actually initially made a 30-minute version of this song as a dance warm-up for a friend (who is Japanese and a dancer) and the final version on this album is just a nice little remnant of that original version I had sent to them.
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:: stream/purchase Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly here ::
:: connect with Conner Youngblood here ::
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© Julia Mayorova
© Julia MayorovaCascades, Cascading, Cascadingly
an album by Conner Youngblood
