It’s always good to see a band start to upend their own formula. The central driver of Yahyel’s music has long been tension, generated by vocals swinging between raw and filtered set over an electronic creep. Lately, that march has lead to moments of release, and on a song like “Iron” it even became kind of a violent catharsis. So I figured new single “Tao” was heading that way too. It’s all synth pricks, faux-guitar strumming and small unsettling details poking through. Above all else of that is the familiar singing wavering between natural and digi-glazed, the intensity of every element picking up towards what feels like a big whole explosion. Then…the music just stops, and instead of release they..jam out, creating this tension-easing Battles-groove to close out the song. A nice swerve that still highlights the band’s skills. Listen above.
