ALBUM REVIEW: Rock Formations (reissue) – Yawning Man

Re-releases are always a fun way to dust off some of the best work a band has to offer. Being able to reflect upon the music that started careers and see the parts that made it to the best form of the band, and what was fun experimentation that eventually was shed. Retrospectively considering YAWNING MAN’s debut record Rock Formations, we have the chance to look back at the atmospheric beginnings of a true staple for any psychedelic space rock fan.

You can’t and wouldn’t expect as much depth and cinematic feel as on YAWNING MAN‘s later work of course. Rather, there’s a lazy, hazy surfer feel throughout – a higher range of pitches without the almost doom like quality that ranges in the deep tones of their more contemporary records. The landmark tunes are still right up front, with title track Rock Formations holding up as a quintessential tune in the band’s back catalogue. Tiny theremin style synth notes that trickle into Perpetual Oyster are classic parts of what made that a stand out upon the album’s release, while there’s a nod to typical, bright guitar work of the 60s in Stoney Lonesome and Split Tooth Thunder.

Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway and Airport Boulevard definitely hold the framework for what the band would mould themselves into on later releases: strangeness and psychedelic serenity mixed with dry, desert rock tone.

The mixes are still much more compressed and generally pretty tricky to pull out all the nitty dirty details when compared with modern records on a bigger budget, but the tunes themselves are all sprightly and fun to listen to with hindsight. There’s a little bit of a slow period in with Advanced Darkness and She Scares Me, which still has starry, ethereal elements, but can feel a little tired by the end of its runtime. But you can’t win them all, and there’s plenty of cinematic scope on songs like Crater Lake and Buffalo Chips to round things off with.

Rock Formations is still an energetic, bright spark of a record 16 years after its initial release. Unencumbered with the weight of heavier inspirations that came later, it’s a fresh, bouncing record bursting with positive potential. There are so many elements to play around with, and to hear what YAWNING MAN could have been if they’d pushed more into the surf rock elements of the post-rock in Rock Formations is fun to think about. Overall, it’s exciting to hear the parts of their sound they decided to pursue to become the band we know and love today.

Rating: 6/10

Rock Formations (reissue) is out not via Ripple Music.

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