The Dreadful Yawns

For those pining the loss of Beachwood Sparks or any other Byrds-on-acid type bands, you should be running down this CD, as this Cleveland, OH band definitely have the chops and vision to blow them away. While it’s always tempting to drown the lazy vocals and vibe in a druggy haze, the songs here actually come across quite clear and allow for the different instruments and layers to be acknowledged, allowing the psych-rock jams to fully blossom. Although there are only four musicians, the Dreadful Yawns manage to pull a sound that has you imagining a stage jam packed with a vast array of instruments. Not only that, but from the incredible steel guitar work on "Darkness Is Gone,” these people definitely know how to use them. A delightful find, but sometimes the band just don’t know when to stop, thus leading to the excess of "The People and the Sky,” which would be twice as effective in half the time. Moving from country pop to space rock, with a strong dash of indie whimsy, these musicians couldn’t have picked a more inaccurate name, as there were no yawns and, for God’s sake, they are far from dreadful.