Album review: Yarn Owl – Montaña Y Caballo

Yarn Owl – Montaña Y Caballo
(2011, self-released)

Way back in 2006 I played in Pullman with a band called Ether Hour, a piano-driven, Elliott Smith-esque indie rock band that I found on MySpace, back when it was still useful for booking tours. They had the most “friends” of any Pullman band I could find, which coincided with the fact that they were very good, in no small part for their drummer Ted Powers, all of 19 years old, who rocked it like nobody’s business. I saw Ether Hour again that summer when they came through Seattle, and kept up with them from time to time on the Internets. At some point their bass player Andrew left and was replaced by one Javier Suarez, and shortly afterward pianist Jake and singer/guitarist Jeff moved out of Pullman, and that was it for Ether Hour.

Almost instantly, Ted and Javier started Yarn Owl, and for the last few years they’ve been steadily blowing up. It didn’t take long for them to rise to the top in Pullman, playing with most every established act passing through town, including Ted Leo, Fruit Bats, and the Helio Sequence. They released a 7-song cassette (Tiny Dots) in 2009, followed by an EP (Stay Warm) last year (both available at their Bandcamp site). Now a four-piece, they’ve just released their first LP, Montaña Y Caballo.

Yarn Owl’s sound is big on vocal and guitar reverb, which at first might make you think of My Morning Jacket or Band of Horses, but I get no sense of Americana in this music. Partly this is because the songs are almost entirely upbeat, but it’s also on account of Javier’s melodic instinct, which tends toward wide, expressive, Beatlesque melodies. Sing-songyness, for lack of a better descriptor, which in previous releases could tend toward preciousness, but which has been attenuated on these songs, to great effect. The vocal hooks are there, combined with some really great guitar hooks. Two of the strongest songs, “Seashell Wind Chime” and “Respite,” both feature great cascading guitar riffs that “make” the songs as much as the vocals. The guitar in “Respite,” particularly, is just badass.

The rhythm section also kills it on this record. The drums avoid straight-ahead rock beats and are composed in that tom-heavy, tribal thing reminiscent of bands like Local Natives. The recording quality could be described as somewhat “dirty,” or better, “classic,” as in, not a very clean wide digital sound but somewhat “pocketed,” if you will, with lows not that low and highs not that high, probably a product of all the reverb. It’s a good thing, and perfect for this music.

One other thing I appreciate, having a short attention span, is that these songs are not long. They do their thing and get out, so the album is 10 songs at 31 minutes. It’s divided into sides as well on the artwork/track listing, though I’m not aware of the album being available in vinyl yet. I expect that’s in the works.