Review: Yawning Balch ‘Volume Two’

Here, we have Volume Two of Yawning Balch, the heralded collaboration between Fu Manchu’s lead guitarist Bob Balch and desert rock guitar legend Gary Arce along with his current Yawning Man band mates, Billy Cordell on bass, and Bill Stinson on drums. The project came to fruition as Balch spent a few days in Joshua Tree, California recording with the musicians, the idea being to improvise as much as possible, inspired by bands like Pink Floyd and their early ‘70s celestial musical meanderings, and, according to Balch, the only discussion beforehand was that ‘Gary Arce and I wanted to mess with tons of guitar pedals’.

Volume One, released earlier this summer, most certainly achieved this goal, and was a fantastic, tripped-out, expansive, mellow take on the desert rock genre, as it wound up being one of my favorite late night, chill-out records of the last few years. Evidently, the musicians recorded enough material for two records, so I was excited to hear more from this project.

Volume Two awakens like the sun creeping over the California desert mountains, seemingly where Volume One ended, with A Moment Expanded (A Form Constant) as the sound of Stinson’s drums and Cordell’s earworm bass line run parallel with all sorts of spacey guitar interplay between Balch and Arce. They collectively ride this groove with Cordell’s bass line being a constant throughout as he and Stinson act as the cosmic glue that holds the track in a plane of reality, while Balch and Arce introduce all sorts of mind-expanding guitar interaction over the course of its eighteen-plus minute runtime.

Flesh Of The Gods follows this established template, if not slightly airier, as all sorts of effects wash over the guitar communion, all the while the rhythm section maintains a mellow, yet solid groove, with the interaction between Stinson and Cordell as notable as that of Balch and Arce. The awesomely named closer, Psychic Aloha, sounds exactly like its title, but here, the rhythm groove is deftly complimented by a guitar riff, that in itself is complimented by a myriad of psychedelic effects, as well as some killer, almost straightforward lead work, that I’d guess is from  Balch, but I cannot say that with conviction, nonetheless it truly takes the listener to another place.

a complete, immersive, psychedelic, musical journey…

When taken as an entire sonic experience, it can be hard to discern where one song ends, and another begins, but perhaps that is the point as Balch took the entirety of the project and broke it down into these sonic movements, a  statement that’s more apt to my ears than mere ‘songs’ as this project is truly a musical journey, and when listening to both Volume One and Volume Two back-to-back, it is instantly affirmed.

I was fortunate enough to witness Yawning Balch’s first live performance this summer at the Burque City Rock Fest, and seeing the band live was truly an experience. The sound and tripped-out improvisational energy worked extremely well in a live setting, and it was a sight to behold watching the four musicians interact with each other. The band is a complete, immersive, psychedelic, musical journey, and I can empathically say that both recorded and live meet the concept of this project.

I have no idea if these musicians will continue with this collaboration, Fu Manchu are gearing up for a new record in 2024, but it would seem to make sense to revisit it at some point as the chemistry displayed between them here, and in Big Scenic Nowhere, is obviously something that warrants further exploration. I know I’ll be revisiting both volumes on a regular basis during my late-night, come-down, art and writing sessions. Recommended listening.

Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

Scribed by: Matthew Williams