The Young'uns - Tiny Notes (2023) Hi-Res

The Young’uns have come up with a collection of folk songs for our time, which takes listeners on a journey from London to Lockerbie, Ireland to Syria, Florida to North Yorkshire. All sensitively arranged by the 30-something trio the songs recall victims of war and terrorism and heroes of the hour, turning the spotlight on injustice and ultimately celebrating love, tolerance and the indomitable human spirit.
The release takes its title from 22-year-old Paige Hunter’s handwritten messages of hope tied to the railings of Sunderland’s Wearmouth Bridge (depicted on the album cover) where tragically many people have decided to end their lives. But her notes are thought to have saved the lives of some 30 people in the North East and Paige’s action has inspired others to leave similar messages on bridges around the world.
Coursing a variety of tempos and moods, the 11-track album strides out with Jack Merritt’s Boots remembering the 25 year-old killed in a terror attack at London’s Fishmongers’ Hall in 2019; it recalls other young lives lost – Cambridge graduate Tim Burman and Northern Ireland journalist Lyra McKee and the daughters of Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen who tragically took their own lives and who are remembered in the poignant track Three Dads Walking (already released as a single).

Returning to Ireland the album traces the courageous story of Richard Moore blinded as a child by an army bullet; salutes the strength of the human spirit in a dramatic rescue tale from Panama City Beach, champions the Right to Roam in Trespassers and recounts a Welsh trauma surgeon’s remarkable Syrian story.