Love comes easy when you're young -- but so does heartbreak. Such is the conceit of today's song, fittingly titled "Young Love," by the Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights. On the word of our boy Mark at the Toad Tavern, who booked these guys not to long ago, and the co-sign of our colleagues in Dallas, we were already intrigued by these guys prior to heading to South By Southwest. But then when we caught them live in Austin and were sold. (The act, one of the few to play an encore at last year's Austin City Limits, seems to have that sort of effect on folks.)
The Dallas-based outfit (just added to the Westword Music Showcase on Saturday, June 19) plays a familiar brand of Southern rock that splits the difference between the Black Crowes and Kings of Leon. And while the bulk of the songs on the act's forthcoming album -- Pardon Me, due at at the end of the month on Atlantic Records -- recall those of the former, the song in question here today that we're all sorts of sweet on, leans more toward the latter. Take a listen above. When Tyler sings of God knowing his pain and it being a year since he's felt a thing, the ache in his voice is as familiar as it is endearing.