Though he takes his name from one of Goethe’s most delicate characters, Young Werther (otherwise known as Mick Young) has had a considerably less tumultuous life than his namesake. A musician from a young age, Young Werther writes songs filled with sorrow and longing, his lyrics belying the hopeful beauty of the delicate instrumentation.

Despite his early musical training, Mick began his working life as a young lad in his dad’s butchers shop. Initial dreams of a luminous Aussie rules football career were put on the backburner when he caught sight of a pig hanging from a hook in his dad’s shop. This macabre image prompted the impressionable Mick to listen to his creative ancestry – his grandmother had been a poetess and a painter and his father had a passion for music. It seemed all but natural that he should follow in these well-worn footsteps.

Uprooting himself from the small Victorian town of Stawell, the impressionable 18 year old Mick moved to Melbourne and found a like-minded bunch of collaborators, forming The Restless in 2000. With airplay from national youth network JJJ and an extensive Australian tour, the band released two EPs and an album before finally disbanding in 2005.

After six months of a creative drought, the vegetarian Mick contemplated a return to butchering until one day he came across a Bob Dylan film and soon realised (once again) that music was his calling. Slowly piecing together songs for his debut under the moniker Young Werther, Mick found the perfect outlet for his pop-tinged folk songs and delicate singer-songwriter sensibility. The end result is Treasure, a collection of six tracks which showcase Mick’s powerful lyrics coupled with gentle acoustic guitar and lush instrumentation.