Release Date: February 21st 2025. Record Label: Heavy Psych Sounds. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Volume Three - Track Listing:
1. The Taos Hum (20:26)
2. Winter Widow (14:02)
Members
Gary Arce – guitar
Bob Balch – guitar
Mario Lalli – bass
Bill Stinson – drums
Review
Psych Stoner Rockers Yawning Balch make a welcome return with Volume Three and it’s another gloriously hip and sonic odyssey into the Desert/Stoner Rock abyss with a tranquil Post-Rock movement becoming more prominent on this album. Welcoming Mario Lalli back into the creative fold for this chapter. Gary Arce, Bob Balch, Mario Lalli and Bill Stinson weave epic soundscapes and progressive rock imagery into the whole album with beautifully played melodies that are mostly played at a softer level of heaviness compared to the previous two volumes.
The album is made of two tracks The Taos Hum and Winter Window running for thirty five minutes in length. The songs have similar ideas and themes as each other but are structured quite differently with The Taos Hum being more spiritual and contained by a dominant Post-Rock sound. Yawning Balch are still capable of playing HEAVIER grooves when the time calls for it.
However, for the most part the record allows Yawning Balch to explore areas of Space Rock and Cosmic instrumental jams that is perhaps closer to Yawning Man’s style of music than FU MANCHU though there’s epic bursts of aggressive Stoner Rock that appear out of nowhere to showcase why Bob Balch is an integral part of this group and not here just to make up the numbers.
Second track Winter Window opts for delicate Desert Rock touch with moments of melodic Post-Ambient sounds laying down the groundwork for Yawning Balch to bring a heavier and spaced out sound. This is perhaps the most meditative track that Yawning Balch has written to date with a sense of bleakness and hopeful surroundings being played at the same time. The song has a “LESS IS MORE” approach with Yawning Balch brilliantly maximising the minimal space, sound effects and instrumental passages to its full potential especially on the later stages of the record.
Volume Three is a majestic and brilliantly cinematic album with Yawning Balch on FIRE throughout. With superb production values, Yawning Balch are fastly becoming one my favourite collaborative projects currently within the Desert/Stoner Rock scene and with the power of Heavy Psych Sounds behind them yet again, I’m hoping there are many more exciting chapters to come from Yawning Balch as they’ve delivered another “must have” record to own with Volume Three.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the promo.
