Search For Yeti – Dark So Soon (13th Floor Album Review)

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Search For Yeti has honed a fresh take on Aotearoa indie-rock with their new album, Dark So Soon. Te Whanganui a Tara three-piece have crafted an album that is highly enjoyable on initial listen, yet sparks the curiosity to hit repeat and go deeper into the rich instrumentation, triumphant melodies and emotional lyricism.

Opening track Alice bristles with catharsis as the protagonist sheds insecurity and declares joy for the present moment. The guitar riffs are buoyant, melancholic and give a nod to The Cure.

Album single Fear of Drowning jangles across a spacious Americana landscape. I hear influences from R.E.M, The Decemberists and Fleet Foxes.  Multi-instrumentalist Vincent Waide commands emphasis with glorious mandolin and lap steel licks throughout the song, which effectively punctuate the song’s drive and the emotional ebb and flow of the vocal.

Search For Yeti

Vincent Waide might be considered the band’s secret sauce, his arsenal of instruments frequently called upon throughout DARK SO SOON to weave innovative textures and depth. In light of the variety of instruments and sounds on offer, Search For Yeti sound cohesive and distinctly themselves. Further credit to this end can likely be given to Toby Lloyd, who engineered and mixed the album at Tiny Triumph Recordings. The production is organic yet has a liquid-like warmth that is immersive and consistent.

A Cold Wind is a reassuring number that offers strength and protection in the face of challenge. It has a lullaby quality with its finger-picked acoustic guitar and undemanding melody. A subtle ambient soundscape sits beneath, lending the song an otherworldly quality. A lullaby suspended in space, if you will.

End Of Days is a rock song with an outlaw country lean that menaces its way to the bridge, where front-man Luke Marlow goes full ‘unhinged Matt Berninger’ for a few desperate repeats of the refrain I WON’T LET YOU DOWN!

Carefully considered arrangements are a clear strength of Search For Yeti. Take for example the track Out To Dry; the first few minutes straightforward in the folk-infused brush work and vocal hooks. Enter the left turn of an instrumental section featuring an utterly gorgeous circular guitar pattern that builds with a gentle post-rock intensity. At its crescendo, the band hit full volume, launch off the cliff edge and dissipate into sonic residue. A bar of clean guitar re-surfaces, and we are dropped into a heaver version of the chorus, which swells into layers of anthemic guitar and backing vocal. Out To Dry is just shy of 7 minutes, yet the arrangement never feels overwrought. Akin to the other long runners on the album, The One and Red, they linger and blossom according to their own logic. Everything in its right place.

Search For Yeti write quality songs that could easily hold their own if stripped back to a voice and single guitar. However, it is the band’s natural chemistry and knack for adding nuance, sonic depth and atmosphere which elevates their songs into something truly special. DARK SO SOON is warm, expansive, and guaranteed to elicit a genuine emotional reaction.

Chris Warne

Purchase tickets for their album release show at MEOW on 5/12/24:
https://www.moshtix.co.nz/v2/event/search-for-yeti-dark-so-soon-album-release-show/173420

Purchase Search For Yeti’s Dark So Soon on CD, digital or marble blue vinyl here:

https://searchforyeti.bandcamp.com/album/dark-so-soon

Listen to Search For Yeti’s recent live set on Radio New Zealand:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018954459/nz-live-search-for-yeti

 

 

Chris Warne
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