Yellow Swans - Going Places

Yellow Swans
Going Places
(2010, Type)
RIYL = Axolotl, Jan Jelinek, Tim Hecker

The final official Yellow Swans album is finally here. It took two whole years after Pete Swanson and Gabriel Mindel Saloman announced that they were going their separate ways for the thing to arrive. I don’t know why it took so long, but boy was it worth the wait. Going Places mines the same aural depths found in At All Ends and the CDrs and cassettes that surrounded that release; which is to say, Going Places is both transcendently gorgeous and muck-rakingly ugly. It’s a creative feat that the Yellow Swans seem to hold a patent on. While Going Places does share strong similarities to the band’s most recent work, there are subtleties on this record that stretch the Yellow Swans’ sound to heights they’ve never reached before. The muted pulse of rhythm on “Foiled,” the cantankerous electric bubbling in “Opt Out,” the cross faded bells on “Limited Space;” Going Places is the Yellow Swans pushing themselves just that much further to make arecord that is beyond satisfactory. This is absolutely the best thing they’ve ever done, I’m convinced of it. Perhaps these past two years have been used to ensure that that was the case. If so, it was well worth the effort. Lots of bands go out in flames, and rightfully so, but few manage the control and mastery of their sound that the Yellow Swans have exhibited here. The band has left us with their masterpiece. It’s as simple as that.

-Thistle