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Written
by Raymond Burris, posted by blog admin
Yam
Haus’ debut album Stargazer begins in
rousing fashion. The title song opens the album with a short flurry of
synthesizer sounds before shifting into stomping guitar and drum driven verses.
The slashing guitar work gives the song a great deal of bounce while the
drumming contrasts that with straight forward power and Lars Pruitt’s smooth,
gliding vocal tone provides the finishing touch for the track. The lyrics don’t
remake the wheel or aspire to poetic excellence, but they are a cut above
typical fare in this style. “West Coast” has a much more retro slant than the
title song, definitely recalling the 1980’s moreso than recent history, but it
never looks back to that music too reverentially. The production distinguishes
this song, like it does the album across the board, and has a physically
engaging line of attack from the outset.
Jake
Felstow’s drumming is key once again on the track “Get Somewhere”. This is a
bright, boisterous number with the same warm, in your face production style
defining the earlier numbers. The band’s irrepressible pop edge cannot be
denied, but they likewise possess a hard hitting paunchiness that imbues their
material with a sense of urgency. These are songs that will not be denied. “Too
Many People” is a pleasant excursion thanks to the deep soulfulness both the
arrangement and vocals achieve. Pruitt, in particular, digs deep into this track
and brings its reflective lyrics to vivid life. It’s one of my personal high
points from Stargazer and introduces
listeners to another side of the unit for those who might pigeonhole their
talents.
Another
side emerges with the acoustic stylings of “Right Now, Forever”. Pruitt’s
singing is ideal for this sort of texture and his voice takes on a smooth
trajectory from the outset that finds a perfect duet partner with the warm six
string strands. It’s essentially a very romantic pop oriented tune, but it
likewise definitely proves Yam Haus is quite comfortable with musical
substance. There’s no knocking this four piece as a disposable pop quartet.
More of Pruitt’s soulfulness comes to the fore in “You Need Love (Stargazer
Reprise)” – but if you go into this track expecting the band to revamp the
title track, you’ll be surprised. Pleasantly so. Yam Haus, instead, crafts an
entirely new track from the same themes and the similarities between this song
and the album opener are much more nuanced than what I’m accustomed to hearing
from acts of this ilk.
“We
Are the Storm” presents listeners with another aspect of the band’s musical
character bringing the guitar into a much larger lead role than we’ve heard so
far. They never forsake their typical bevy of keyboard/synthesizer sounds, but
this rocks much harder than anything else on Stargazer and fits in quite well. Their daring with taking on a
variety of musical mantles is just as impressive as their skill and you will
likely finish this album as I did – convinced Yam Haus has barely scratched the
surface of their tremendous talents.
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