YELLOW SWANS - AT ALL ENDS (LOAD 096)

YELLOW SWANS ARE BACK ALREADY. I LIKE THAT ABOUT BEN/LOAD. I GOT THE FEELING IF HE LIKED YOU AND YOU DID WELL HE'D JUST STICK OUT YOUR NEXT THING AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. AT ALL ENDS SEEMS SLIGHTLY MORE EXPENSIVELY RECORDED OR AT LEAST BETTER SEPARATED, WITH A LITTLE MORE USE OF GUITAR.

AGAIN IT IS YELLOW SWANS' MUSICALITY THAT SEES THEM SO FAR AHEAD OF THEIR CONTEMPORARIES. 'STRETCH THE SANDS' GAMBOLS ALONG WITH A RICH ECSTATIC DRONE, A HUGE COMPLEX CHORD COMPRESSED TO REPRESENT THE INFINITE, BUT THIS SPARSE BASS FIGURE UNDERNEATH HAUNTS THE TRACK, A PERSISTENT GROUNDING BACK TO EARTH. IT IS MELANCHOLIC. BITTERSWEET. COMPLEX NOTES LIKE A GOOD WINE.

IT'S NOT JUST THE MUSICALITY BUT THE SUBTLE CONTROL OF TONES. LIKE THE CHORD PATTERN THAT MASS MIRAGE OPENS WITH. THE SLOW ATTACK AND FX GIVES IT THIS ELEGIAC FEEL EVEN THOUGH AT HEART THIS MUSIC IS TWO SWEATY DUDES ATTACKING A LOAD OF GEAR. IT'S WAY LESS INDUSTRIAL AND AGGRO THAN PSYCHIC SECESSION, INDEED, AT TIMES IT SEEMS BECALMED AND SPECTRAL. THEY WORK REALLY WELL AT THIS END OF THE SPECTRUM TOO. I LIKED EVERYTHING HERE.

CERTIFIED: GOOD.