The wild: A synonym for the untamed, a metaphor for the unknown. What comes to mind when we hear the word? Chaos and disorder color an unrestrained canvas of possibility. Temptation weds fear with desire – for the wild certainly has its allure, a special time and place sparked by impulse and nature. But more often than not, the wild is a source of stress and anxiety, an unwelcome, uncharted force that takes from us that which we hold most dear: Control, balance, and self-assurance.

California trio The Young Wild capture the heavy emotions associated with the ‘wild’ in their beachy new anthem “In the Wild.”

In the wild, good love is hard to find

In the wild, with the lonesome and the tired

As far away as you can run, as far as you can run

In the wild, the good love is hard to find

Listen: “In the Wild” – The Young Wild

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering The Young Wild’s “In the Wild,” the band’s first single since releasing their debut EP All the Luck (April 2016 via Fairfax Recordings). A catchy guitar and synth driven pop song sprinkled with earworm melodies and chilling harmonies, “In the Wild” has the ideal pulsing beat for long car rides down vacant highways at dawn and dusk.

Yet this is far from a mindless speaker-blaster; the trio of Bryan B. William, Gareth Moore, and Brandon Taylor Zedaker marks its return with passion and beautifully mixed emotions. The Young Wild inject the painful fury of a broken heart into the “In the Wild,” capturing their own humanity and bearing it on their sleeve for all to bear witness. The song reads as a conversation from the narrator to a former loved one:

Bright and Beaming Red

On the nights you up and left

And I couldn’t count them out

All the times I talked you down

Wherever you aim to go

So far away, so far from home

What are you hoping you’re going to find?

What are you hoping you might find?

If anything, “In the Wild” is a hard wake-up call to the mindless summer haze, a haunting reminder of transience – that even the best of things might come to an end, with or without explanation. The stark irony between the song’s dreamy musical contour and The Young Wild’s raw lyrics can be vividly felt in the croons of the second verse, as the band reminisce a lost cause.

There’s a weight to your words

They were the heaviest I’ve heard

When I put those fires out

So many times without cause

We don’t end an argument

But the energy’s well spent

Just to keep you alive

The last one left alive

A soured relationship is a heavy and confusing burden. You end up asking yourself questions like, Was it worth it? Why did I do this? Why did we do this? “In the Wild” expertly expresses this frustration: The toxicity is palpable, adding layers of doubt and uncertainty to the band’s already expressive new wave-esque performance.

Frontman Bryan B. William confirms the song’s weight: “‘In The Wild’ is about running out on a true human connection. Like you’ve cheated this person out of an experience with you because you don’t like who you become in your rawest moments – you forecast that you can’t meet them halfway. And you bail. And never does it feel like it was a bigger mistake than when it’s too late. What you left was closer to transparency. Closer to vulnerability. It was a privilege and privilege is hard to find.”

It was a privilege and privilege is hard to find.

William’s words, both here and in the song, do not fall on deaf ears. The wound is still fresh on “In the Wild”: When we lose that which we hold so dear, a piece of ourselves is lost as well. For what is an individual, without its other half?

This is The Young Wild’s true challenge: The search for understanding and meaning that can only come out of experiencing the wild. By leaving, the narrator’s partner has effectively shoved the narrator into the wild as well: Both have that “true human connection” of which William so eloquently speaks. Now, the narrator must embrace the wild – head into it, headfirst, not by choice but by necessity.

The Young Wild have articulated a ubiquitous sentiment about this life we live: One can find somebody to be with, sure, but is it really a suitable relationship? The answer is rhetorical. Love is a tricky thing to curate, relationship or not. There may or may not be something better for both ex-lovers out there, but “In The Wild” makes one thing clear: It won’t come easy.

Anyone who’s ever loved and lost knows The Young Wild’s painful truth all too well: The good love is hard to find.

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cover photo: The Young Wild © Sergey Kolivayko

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