The Yellow Swans are dead! Long live the Yellow Swans! For a band that broke up in 2008, the Yellow Swans sure seem to have been busy. They continue to insinuate themselves into the noise and experimental world by producing albums that rewrite the rules with every posthumous release. "Mort Aux Vaches" was one of the best albums released last year, combining transcendent melodic ascensions with cascades of noise. Already this year the band has released a stunning third volume in their live series "Live During War Crimes," and now "Going Places," which purports to be their once and for all final album. Surprisingly, for a band who made a career out of shattering eardrums, they couldn't have crafted a more graceful exit.
Throughout the band's career there has been a continuous progression away from earthshaking noise and toward more nuanced dynamics and texture. The band's breakthrough album "At All Ends," from 2007 was, in many ways, a culmination of the band's work and a schematic for a new way forward, still shaking speakers, but doing so by way of a dynamic arc that was as emotionally beautiful as it was pulverizing. "Going Places" picks up where "At All Ends" left off, but turns the noise down even more. It is still there - the noise - but it is presented in the most subdued manner. If there was a simple phrase to sum up "Going Places," 'subtle noise' would be it.
"Foiled" begins the album with a trip down Kurtz's river. The song sounds as oppressive, humid and hazy as the nightmarish landscape in "Heart of Darkness." A consistent processed guitar pattern plays over a steady percussive beat, while squalls of moist noise flare up throughout the piece. It's dark and dank, but it also bares a striking resemblance to Rob Modell's ""Aloeswood." I mention this not because I think the Yellow Swans were sitting around listening to Deep Chord, although who knows maybe they were, but because it is a stark contrast to the band's noise background.
"Opt Out" continues the watery ways of "Foiled." The song sounds as if the band began recording it at the bottom of the sea. Air bubbles gently percolate until they become a steady stream the band follows toward the surface. Throughout the ascension surface light continues to grow and is reflected in shards of noise that disturb the song's tranquil beginnings. The highlight of the album, though, is "Limited Space," no song better bridges the Yellow Swans sound of old with the more subdued goodbye of "Going Places." The song begins with a distant guitar, some static and a prominent rhythmic bell that is eventually anchored with a steady drum beat. As the song unfolds, rather than simply upping the tension and volume, the band introduces pulsating and cyclical effects that give the impression of continuous movement in a massive amount of space; like the the tide of an ocean, or the sway of a crowd, before ending with an oppressive guitar squall that sounds not unlike an air raid siren during the apocalypse. Even with its menace the song is still restrained for the Yellow Swans. Yeah, it is scary, but it isn't going to shatter your eardrums, which is perfect, because "Limited Space" may be the earphone song of the year, given the numerous textures on display and the depth of space the song invokes.
The album ends with a couple of very subdued numbers "New Life," and the album's titular track. Both songs demand close listens to really appreciate. Like much of the album, these songs could have been blown out into the stratosphere, but the band dials the sound back and lets their music breath quietly, drawing the listener in more so than any of their other releases. What is so unique about this approach is that upon close inspection the Yellow Swans of old is still present. There is so much noise going on beneath the surface that it can be overwhelming and terrifying (in a good way, of course), but a casual listen misses that. Instead a lot of listeners will be thrown by how much more ambient than noise "Going Places" is, and yeah in some regards that is true, but listen closely and it is apparent the band hasn't soften so much as they have traded straightforward audio assaults in for deeply textured experiments in noise that are as emotionally satisfying as they are musically exciting.
In the end "Going Places" is bittersweet. It's a great album, by the best damn noise band that ever existed, but it is also their swan song (I am sure there is some lame play on words that some critic somewhere has made with that phrase given the band's name, but for me this band making their final album is no occasion to make a bad pun). During their career the Yellow Swans swelled hearts as well as melted faces. They proved that noise could be downright beautiful and inspiring. To say that they will be missed is an understatement. Thankfully we have an incredible catalog of music to return to again and again, and "Going Places" is the finale more than worthy of their superb body of work. The Yellow Swans are dead! Long live the Yellow Swans!
Listen to "Going Places" here
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