If you have ever eaten a gummy and thought:

“This is not doing shit!”

But you managed to exert a measure of restraint, rather than take another, resolved yourself to not being rocketed to the fourth dimension. After a few minutes, the gummy subtly kicked in. It provided an enjoyable ride, despite not being as intense as expected. Yawning Man is that gummy

Pavement Ends (Heavy Psych Sounds Records) finds the band delving into a more surreal than rocking take on the desert rock sub-genre. Yawning Man tempers the doom melancholy with a trippy atmosphere, but their new album opens with a darker shadow being cast over the California highways. With “Burito Power,” you might wonder what was in the Burito that took such a turn, so the guitar melodies would cry out as woefully as they do. The band continues to drift off into melancholy with “Gestapo Pop,” with the spotlight on the wonderfully reverb-drenched guitar tone. Without vocals, the guitar melodies carry the songs in a more post-rock manner that is not far removed from what Mogwai used to do. This also leads to things being carried into a narcotic drone that flows in an abstract jam.

This affects the listening experience of the album and shifts the focus more to sounds by the time they wander into “Bomba Negra.” They ride a more atmospheric wave, as the guitar coasts over the bass line in a more Sabbath-like fashion. The dreamy mood works well and adds a more dynamic feel to the album overall. Where it makes you want to float away, “Dust Suppression” is rooted in more conventional space jamming. The title track uses a reverb that finds its echo ache with more emotion than was displayed on the previous song.

The last song seems like it is the end bridge for the title track that precedes it, and the extended single-note guitar solo seems to be the centerpiece of the song that takes all the melodic themes from the previous song. You get the impression that this would work well live. Though in your living room and with the right herbal medicine, this could have an equal impact and make you think the pizza delivery guy is a cop because you forgot you ordered pizza in the first place.This is the band’s target audience. The moods and sounds captured here are immaculate, though prone to running together in a cosmic blur. If you are looking for a shoegazing journey into the skies of the West Coast, this album is for you.

Buy the album here:
https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/yawning-man-paviment-ends

8 / 10
WIL CIFER
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