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Written
by David Shouse, posted by blog admin
Yam
Haus began playing together during their high school days and the four piece,
hailing from Wisconsin, has since relocated to Minneapolis in an attempt to
discover a more visible platform for their burgeoning musical ambitions. Their
debut album Stargazer is a varied,
fully realized collection that should easily put them near the forefront of the
indie scene and promises to give them a foothold on the mainstream scene. The
album opens with its title cut and the mix of synthesizer sounds with bright,
snappy guitar lines. It’s a a recurring musical motif for Yam Haus and few of
the songs on the release equal the level they reach straight out of the gate.
“West
Coast” and “Kingdom” explore that sound even more thoroughly. Yam Haus never
intend to remake the songwriting wheel; much of the album’s writing concerns
itself with interpersonal relationships. However, they deliver the subject
matter with such stylishness and a personal touch elevating the material
several notches. Naturally, there’s a strong pop influence running through
these songs, but it blends well with their two guitar sound courtesy of lead
singer Lars Pruitt and second guitarist Seth Blum. The nuanced interplay
between the rhythm section of bassist Zach Beinlich and drummer Jake Felstow is
another crucial piece of the band’s musical puzzle that makes this opening trio
fly.
“Too
Many People” has a surprising gospel influence, a sound that the opening songs
never indicate is coming, but they sound perfectly at home navigating through
the song’s affectations. The different keyboard sound they bring to bear with
this track is the song’s crowning touch. They take a sharp stylistic turn with
the track “Right Now, Forever” and the acoustic musicality of the song stands
in marked contrast to the band’s pop inclinations. Once again, however, they
never sound uncomfortable with this and give us an intimate, considered
performance ranking among the album’s best.
Synthesizers
regain prominence in the mix with the track “Bad News”, but the most compelling
part of this song is the vocal melody and Lars Pruitt does an excellent job
getting under the skin of the cut thanks to his superb phrasing. “Carry Me Home”
has a dream-like lightness of touch and wafts by listeners on the back of
glistening synthesizer lines and Pruitt’s sensitive vocal rendition. Yam Haus
won’t soon be confused with a hard rock act or anything of that ilk, but they
turn in a resounding guitar-centric performance with the song “We Are the Storm”
and sound quite convincing moving guitar to the fore.
The
finale “Something Better” isn’t an exclusively acoustic tune and the
synthesizer adornments add a lot of color to the composition. It’s a
meditative, intelligent closer to Stargazer
that underlines the band’s diversity while reaffirming their core
strengths. It, likewise, points the way towards a future for the band where obviously
all things are possible. Yam Haus possess all the tools to stick around for
years to come and the ride will undoubtedly be entertaining.
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