Words by Justin Turford
Excessive association disorder (EAD) is a cosmological condition that causes present thoughts to immoderately link with memories and past experiences. Although EAD can be diagnosed at any age, it is described as a “nostalgia disorder” because symptoms generally appear following infancy and adolescence.
Yandl Shyr (real name Tom Edney) is a producer and songwriter from North West England who set off (pre-pandemic) on his own European odyssey of sorts. Starting in Italy and finally reaching Portugal via Spain just before the crisis sent him home, the trip revealed to his hyper-aware self a myriad of connections, of place, of time, and of humanity. During stages of his half year travels, Yandl began sampling on his iPad. Snatches of field recordings of real street performances alongside YouTube videos of street performances became ingredients, the opening gambit for the infant Yandl Shyr project. Returning to the UK, the first lockdown gave him the time to carve this new venture into its early shape from half-forgotten projects and new ideas garnered from his sampling experiments in Italy. Many months later and now based in Leeds, he asked electronic musician and colleague Dominic Clare (Declared Sound Studio) to mix and master the final results during the second lockdown, and they are really rather good.
From moments of psychedelic dream-pop to R&B flavoured indie-electronica, ‘EAD Vol. 1’ has many a reference point but there is a clear identity on show here, his post-punk/indie pop background enhanced with a recharged sense of experimental wonder and protean versatility.
Album starter ‘Somewhere We Would All Rather Be Right Now’ kick-starts the record with spacey ambient-ish washes, a snare-heavy marching band drum rhythm, and chiming guitars and keys behind his voice. The song surges and recedes at unsettling pace, its more overwhelmingly narcotic moments resembling Spiritualised if Damon Albarn had joined the band, at others a mischievous playfulness comes through as he proclaims “Get over yourself”. It is immediately apparent that the musical world of Yandl Shyr is a place of experimentation - a place where a catchy melody is but part of a stranger singular vision. Compositional structures are outside of obvious pop sensibilities, the songs constructed from many ideas but not necessarily in the order that we’d expect - painterly collages of sound and lyrical ideas.
‘Beg To Differ’ is a very different beast from the first track. Clattering slipped drums and a bouncy electronic bass line propel the track behind ringing, echoing guitars and keys. Folky yet futuristic, the vocals veer between percussively sung verses to choral exclamations - there’s something here that reminds me of some of the new wave of Brazilian Tropicalismo artists - that unexpected collision of the avant-garde and the popular - musical genres just toys to play with.
I hate to keep referencing other artists when describing the songs, it somehow seems unfair to Yandl. However, there’s no escaping the multitude of sources that he is drawing from albeit in his own peculiar fashion. ‘Devil In The Making’ could be the result of a writing session between Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis and Beta Band’s Steve Mason. One of my favourites on the album, the song begins with a fractured childlike glockenspiel and a bubbling arpeggiated synth bass, expanding into pastoral loveliness, Yandl’s voice at its most welcoming and tuneful before an (alternative) 80’s sounding chorus section that triggered the Talk Talk allusion in me, with its lightly flanged guitars and melancholic chord riff. Yandl is particularly strong at layering harmonics and countermelodies, displaying an abundance of creative thoughts that manage to remain somehow cohesive.
The lowriding country-psyche-funk of ‘Contraband’ is a densely layered groover with possibly the most obvious ‘hit’ focus on the record although the oddly shadowy backing vocals give it a ghostly atmosphere. A desert blues with great live-sounding drums and a subtle electronica bottom end, I can imagine this getting regular plays on various BBC R6 shows such is its esoteric big chorus attraction.
The archly titled ‘Honest Worker (Secret Millionaire)’ is all Flaming Lips cosmic synths and a driving groove with a takeoff ending that would be a live favourite if he managed to find fellow musicians who could translate his richly manipulated music into a performable shape.
‘Diagram For Next Time’ is a short but beguiling piece based solely on looped and multitracked vocals creating (though not quite the same) something like the hymn-like songs of yearning sung by South African male vocal groups.
‘Translate’ is a gloriously hypnotic piece hinged on a spectral-folk loop that expands and expands with layers of harmonic guitars, one of his strongest vocal melodies and an uprush of energy and locked in groove.
The album closes with the stretched out indie-dancer ‘Fantasies and Fears’ - 90’s style digital drums and processed synths are the foundation for a superb vocal turn and a beautiful riff that hooks you in deep. The drum loop barely changes throughout the track’s seven and a half minutes length but the focus does: the song itself morphs away into a near ambient wave before seams of guitars thicken and tower, the multiple strings giving the impression that a chorus of Chitarra Italiana players have joined the party.
Fellow spacey travellers Tame Impala, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Deerhunter are mentioned as inspirations but although I can recognise what he has absorbed from these artists, Yandl’s corner of the sonic room is his own. It’s a bit dirtier, the polish is fading and the scratches are showing. The album’s combination of lo-fi recording techniques, ambitious arrangements and courageous songwriting makes ‘EAD Vol. 1’ an intriguing union. Repeated listens yield more meaning, more emotional charge and much more musical fearlessness. Bravo. 9/10.
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