ALBUM REVIEW: Long Walk Of The Navajo – Yawning Man

Arguably one of the most influential Palm Desert bands to roam the Coachella Valley, YAWNING MAN are cult heroes in the psychedelic stoner underground. Formed 1986, they are often elusive, having only released six studio albums (including Long Walk Of The Navajo) in their 37-year history. However, their brand of spaced-out, desert-influenced music has been significant enough to inspire the likes of KYUSS and BRANT BJORK, arguably the more well known stalwarts of the Palm Desert scene. 

The band’s sixth album Long Walk Of The Navajo is their first since Macedonian Lines came out in 2019. It also marks the return of Billy Cordell on bass, as the band embark on their most ambitious spaced-out sonic journey yet. Long Walk Of The Navajo sees YAWNING MAN head in a darker and somewhat heavier direction, as each sweeping, sun-baked soundscape tells its own haunting and eerie story with a heartbreaking beauty. 

This album’s title has a darkness that is rooted in a historical event that is equal parts tragic and horrifying. The actual Long Walk Of The Navajo (also called Long Walk to Bosque Redondo) was the forced displacement and attempted ethnic genocide of the Navajo people in 1864 by the US government. Between August 1864 and the end of 1866, the Navajo people, over a series of 53 forced marches, were made to walk Arizona to eastern New Mexico. In modern anthropology, the collective trauma of this event is still felt by modern Navajo people today. 

Musically, it is a beautifully psychedelic album and the most unique project that YAWNING MAN have done to date. Yet there is heaviness and deep melancholy within its melodies, a sadness that lingers underneath but echoes throughout the album. With the historical context of the album’s title coming to mind as you listen, you feel a deep emotional resonance that you cannot describe adequately with words. There is a highly perceptive and sensitive approach to Long Walk Of The Navajo, demonstrating that YAWNING MAN have taken great care in the creation of their narratives on this album.

With that in mind, the fact that the album is instrumental makes it all the more mind blowing. However, because of this the band have the ability to be incredibly expansive and intricate with their songwriting, an opportunity that they have seized with both hands. Each track feels like there are two songs happening at the same time, an intermingled light and darkness that indelibly marks you as it is unafraid to explore the space in between the two sides. This creates a richly diverse musical narrative that is complexly layered, accentuated by the band’s use of spacious reverbs , delays and modulation.

What makes Long Walk Of The Navajo stand out amongst the band’s discography is its much cleaner production. While it still retains some of the gritty sandiness of their earlier work, there is a significant focus on tightly interwoven melodic and guitar processing effect layers. This removes some of the jam band looseness seen on Macedonian Lines and 2018’s The Revolt Against Tired Noises. As a result of this, Long Walk Of The Navajo becomes the band’s tightest and most cohesive album to date from a performance perspective. 

The album opens up with the 15-minute title track Long Walk Of The Navajo. Over the sprawling expanse of deep psychedelic layers are moments of hope and sadness. The gentle drum rhythms provide a steady grounding as the reverberating guitar leads shimmer across the desert sky. As the song progresses, the desert landscape seems to unfurl in front of you, with haunting expansiveness and otherworldly feel. The heat of the sun is soaked into YAWNING MAN’s riffs as they alternate between light and dark, with a consistent melancholic tone. 

Respiratory Pause is a 13-minute soundscape that takes some of the established motifs and concepts of Long Walk Of The Navajo but frames them with a sadder darkness whilst simultaneously being beautifully spaced out. Here you hear the brightness start to fade; as the guitar leads unfurl and evolve, the sense of melancholy only gets stronger as the notes linger long after they’re played, endlessly resonating into the vast desert expanse. Blood Sand is the breathtakingly beautiful but gut-wrenching climax to this unique album. Haunting screeches and eerie melodies can be heard throughout, set to the backdrop of a sombre sounding bass and heavy half time drums. There is one final flourish towards the end before the album gently fades out. 

Long Walk Of The Navajo is a deeply reflective album that encompasses you completely as you listen to it. Haunting and beautiful in equal measure, YAWNING MAN have once again showed why they are held in such high regard. With their exquisite compositions and powerful narratives, it will be difficult not to feel moved by Long Walk Of The Navajo. 

Rating: 9/10

Long Walk Of The Navajo is set for release on June 16th via Heavy Psych Sounds.

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