Weekly Release Spotlight: Yellow Ostrich
Posted on 3/11/2012
Yellow Ostrich
Strange Land
Barsuk
Strange Land
Barsuk
There’s a moment during “Elephant King,” the opening track from 2012’s Strange Land, when the depth and growth of Wisconsinite-turned-New Yorker Yellow Ostrich rises to the surface. It’s at about 2:07, and the sound you are hearing is that of Alex Schaff putting the bedroom days of The Mistress behind him and stepping into the spotlight with his new band mates Michael Tapper and Jon Natchez. The result is a Yellow Ostrich record that sounds full of sorrow, hope, horns, and adventure.
Sophomore records from bands that start with a drum machine and looping progressions in the place of human accompaniment can go from zero to kitschy pretty quickly, but Strange Land deftly maneuvers around this territory. An example of this is the song “Marathon Runner,” where a perfect mix of the old and new is achieved thanks to fantastic songwriting and insightful arrangement. It opens with the layered looping vocals fans of The Mistress, the bands debut record, have come to love and expect though what follows is a toe-tapping indie jam that conjures Built to Spill mixed with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. The record progresses this way, with Schaff and company reaching out in all directions, such as the somber sound of “I Got No Time For You” which begins with a mellow strum and culminates in a fuzzed-out shout, and the bedroom drum machine chanting of “I Want Yr Love.” The record isn’t lacking in upbeat rockin’ tunes either, with the highly danceable “Stay at Home” serving as a kind of anthem for shut-ins who like to boogie.
On the whole, Strange Land moves Yellow Ostrich in a direction that embraces the bands new members while being careful not to lean too heavily on the artificial limbs that supported Alex Schaff during his one man band days. An entire EP of songs based verbatim on Morgan Freeman’s Wikipedia page might be a tough act to follow, but Yellow Ostrich pull it off with an ease that feels organic and just plain right.
Yellow Ostrich - "Marathon Runner"
Labels: barsuk, kuom, marathon runner, radio k, strange land, weekly release spotlight, yellow ostrich