ALBUM REVIEW: The Space – Somali Yacht Club
With an unusual band name that demonstrates and represents dichotomy and variance, SOMALI YACHT CLUB got their name from the real-life pirates who attack vessels off the Somalian coast and the peaceful leisure of those with time to kill and money to burn. With this stark contrast in mind, the Ukrainian trio’s music occupies the space between post-rock and metal. Dynamic shifts between loud and quiet moments within a boundless, wide open sound, there is a lot to be admired and immersed in. Over the last decade the band have drawn on a plethora of influences, honed their skills and offered up a fresh spin on the psychedelic doom genre. As a result The Space sees them soar with outstretched wings, traversing the melancholic and introspective skies.
As the world’s struggles and turmoils persist to cause stress, angst and anxiety, The Space announces itself as the perfect elixir. The album stretches its arms around you in a warm and welcoming embrace, calming your overloaded nerves and giving your soul the time to transcend beyond your physical being. SOMALI YACHT CLUB have worked in the old school manner of jamming out riffs together and building a song from there; the approach for The Space was no different and as a result you’re presented with an album that flows freer than the waters of the Dnieper river. The entrancing and hypnotic nature of the album is in the sweet spot between metaphysical experience and acute observation, lyrically looking into the human psyche as well as the impact modern existence has on our delicate emotions and fragile behaviours.
There is a strong emotional resonance throughout The Space; when an album can offer this kind of escapism and refuge from everyday life it truly is a special experience. The Space also sees SOMALI YACHT CLUB build significantly on their sound, bringing forth only the best parts of 2016’s The Sun and 2018’s The Sea and meshing them together to create a newly evolved sound that feels like the most honest representation of the band to date. Whilst still mainly instrumentally focused, the band’s lyrics explore themes we can all relate to, and how we internalise our emotions instead of letting them free.
Opening up The Space with the monolithic riffs of Silver, SOMALI YACHT CLUB set the album’s tone with an introspectively explorative track as it ventures through pastures unknown mentally and physically. Pulsar lyrically discusses the very human topic of taking a pure and true love for granted and eventually losing it, thrusting you into a state of never-ending melancholy. Despite this there is a surprisingly uplifting quality to the song due to the music behind the lyrics, but it also demonstrates the acknowledgement that you were wrong and have to live with it. There is a vindication in that sort of acceptance.
Echo Of Direction is easily the most spiritual song on The Space, with the heavy, psychedelic riffs being augmented by cathedral choir style layers of vocals and harmonies. Whilst it deals with the hopelessness of the loss of direction that we all feel from time to time, you can feel yourself physically resonating with how ethereally haunting the song is.
Gold utilises some intriguing and musical melodies to captivate the listener, but it also feels like it demonstrates the subject of the lyrics, about how we internalise our emotions and end up feeling like a confused and crazy mess inside due to fear. Closing the album with the twelve-minute epic Momentum, SOMALI YACHT CLUB allow themselves to be unencumbered by time, exploring multiple new avenues whilst consolidating the album’s introspective vibes into one enchanting song. The song speaks of ushering in a new phase, as a person we walk through these chapter beginnings unknowingly, but Momentum speaks about the choices we have to make consciously to be able to usher in a new and meaningful chapter.
SOMALI YACHT CLUB have captured something beautiful in a world full of chaos with The Space, utilising their unique take on psychedelic rock and evolving it to transcend genre boundaries. It would be a safe bet that when people listen to this album in 50 years time, they will experience the same emotional resonance as we do today.
Rating: 9/10
The Space is set for release on April 22nd via Season Of Mist.
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