When I saw Yellow Swans back in August of 2004, at the late, great Schoolhouse in Hadley, Mass, I liked their performance well enough to pick up a couple of their records. Unfortunately, those records, and the wave of hype that soon followed, left me feeling pretty lukewarm towards the band. They have grown a lot in the past two and a half years, however, and this particular trilogy of recordings shows that off.
Live during War Crimes (Release the Bats)
The Yellow Swans are one of those bands, like Sunburned Hand of the Man and Wolf Eyes, that ALWAYS leaves the tape recorder on, and, for better or worse, release most of it. A lot of this comes out on short-run CDRs on their Jyrk label. Live During War Crimes 1 and 2 are 'best of' compilations of some of those live recordings from their intense touring. Live During War Crimes 1, recorded during May and June of 2004, shows the more rhythmic, proto-industrial side of the band. Primal and grim, the sound of this disc hides the peace-loving, harmonious spiritual unity (hippy) ethos of the band. From the first track on, there's a fist-in-the-air thud and clamor running down the back bone of this album’s sound. Beats made from skittery, broken electronics, the most guitar riffage I’ve heard on any of their recordings, and a seamless flow from one track into the next gives these 45 minutes a hypnotic density that took a couple listens, but totally won me over.
Live during War Crimes #2 (Release the Bats)
Live During War Crimes #2, recorded in January and February of 2006, delves more into the Yellow Swans’ psychedelic-drone sound. The recordings are pretty lo-fi, too. You can hear in the sound the resonance of the speakers and the over modulation of the microphone recording. Especially on the second track, as the drones and feedback swell, you can feel the electricity of the room they’re playing in. Through this mud arises a very clean, or at least unprocessed, guitar, plucked and strummed incidentally, either dancing with or fighting against the walls of noise building beside it, finally being overtaken and drowned out, as the recording gets skuzzier and grimier. Even at low volumes, this track is deafening. The third and fourth tracks fall a little flat compared to the opening two, but the closer returns to the opening’s momentum, but with a much tighter hold on the tension between the wall of noise and the improvised guitar. It lumbers along, ominous and foreboding, not so much the violent ballet of the earlier tracks, but more a sober denouement to the album, a dark shadow creeping from an alley way.
Psychic secession (Load)
Yellow Swans' debut on Load is the paramount studio album. At first, the opener, "True Union," clocking in just over 20 minutes, seemed a little stale, but after a couple listens unveiled power and a deft knack for building tension that I didn't pick up on until I listened to LDW#2 alongside it. A lot of the depth of the recording didn't even show up until I put on my headphones. Co-produced by Gerritt (Or Misanthropic Agenda fame), his intense digital processing can be heard added to Yellow Swans' own wall of feedback and effect loops. Sparse, raspy, almost black metal screams bleed into the mix as high-end oscillations swirl and howl. This track sets a good tone for the album: dark, very evil, and strong enough to make the hair on the back of the neck stand on end.
As "True Union" fades away, the title track steps in, with an eery vocal intro reminiscent of the late John Balance, soon overtaken by more feedback and squall, but rhythmic this time—not just an intense anti-climatic build. Hard pulses are set off, driving more raspy screams and oscillating feedback. From there on, Psychic Secession stays more rhythmic than the two Live During War Crimes CDs, and seems very intentional, even composed. The album definitely climaxes with I Woke Up, starting off with harsh glitch and more heavily processed screams fighting though barbed-wire-like drum machines, finally giving way to a foot stomp and hand clap rhythm track backed by a throbbing bass line. I Woke Up moves from heavy static to a rousing tribal-industrial dance, all the while Yellow Swans are balancing their sense of tension in their live feedback-drone and the multi-track layering of the studio.
I don't think there could be a better result from this band in the studio. Yellow Swans moved from being another run of the mill drone/feedback/hippy noise group to showing a definite talent for sound work and more than capable of creating important studio works.
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