YAWNING MAN

The desert rock pioneers offer up a strong toke of the good stuff.

Yawning Man is a name mentioned reverently in desert rock circles. Formed in the mid-80s, the California band are the Grateful Dead of the genre, and their early gigs – when they’d rock up in their van, spark up and play to parties in the Cali wilderness – are underground legend. Josh Homme and his Kyuss bandmates were there, and later covered one of their tunes, Catamaran, which has finally been recorded on this, Yawning Man’s sixth release. Their reputation was founded on experimental jams, but it’s clear from opener Black Kite that the trio have an innate sense of musical structure and a focused mastery of woozy texture. Gary Arce’s baroque guitar arpeggios on the likes of Skyline Pressure will delight the ears of math- and post-rock listeners. Mario Lalli’s bass pins down and decorates the melodies, and there are grungy guts to his two rare vocal stints (that urgent Catamaran and Grant’s Heart). Bill Stinson’s drums are deceptively refined, even when he’s smashing up the bronzeware on Ghost Beach. For fans of everyone from QOTSA to The Verve to The Fierce And The Dead, this album wears its title well. Its creators’ name was never more ironic.