In the longer term, it probably wouldn’t matter at all, but I’m glad that Yawning Balch — the four-piece union of desert rock forebears Yawning Man and Bob Balch of Fu Manchu among, at this point, a slew of others — are getting their second full-length, Volume Two, out before the end of 2023. Something about the symmetry there, not the least since Volume Two comes from the same jam sessions as Volume One (review here), which arrived just last month. Had they wanted, the band probably could have put the two records together as a 2LP and rolled that out, but this way it’s kind of like the offerings are adjacent, close by each other, but also giving enough space to appreciate where the music goes without being numbed by the hypnotic nature of the work itself.

There’s no audio yet from Volume Two that I’ve been able to find, but if you want to hear what the band is all about, well, the debut is probably a great place to start since (1:) the next album was tracked at the same time and (2:) it’s their only other work to-date. You’ll find that stream at the bottom of the post. Here’s the gorgeous cover art and album info, hoisted from the PR wire. Album’s out Nov. 3:

Heavy Psych Sounds to announce YAWNING BALCH sophomore album VOLUME TWO – presale starts TODAY !!!

– sophomore album of the new desert rock music project feat. Yawning Man and Bob Balch from Fu Manchu –

RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 3rd

Today we are stoked to start the presale of the YAWNING BALCH sophomore album VOLUME TWO !!!

ALBUM PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS280

USA PRESALE: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop-usa.htm

Bob Balch here. In November of 2022 I went out to Joshua Tree for a day of jamming with the guys in Yawning Man with the intention of calling it “Yawning Balch.” No riffs were planned. We just plugged in and played. The only discussion beforehand was that Gary Arce and I wanted to mess with tons of guitar pedals. I knew that while we were jamming it sounded great, but it wasn’t until I got home and listened to it all that I realized we had something special. It’s hard to believe that we jammed for five hours and got two full length LPs and then some out of it. Every player killed it on these recordings and I’m beyond grateful to have my name involved with this legendary band. Fingers crossed they invite me back out annually for more jam sessions. I hope you enjoy these jams and please use responsibly.

A Moment Expanded (A Form Constant)
This is sort of a parallel piece to “Dreaming with Eyes Open” from Volume One. This is another totally improvised jam like the other songs. Although, I took this one back home and changed my guitar tones a little using different delays and reverbs. The overall piece of music remained the same though.

Flesh Of The Gods
This was actually the first song we tracked during the session. Just getting a feel for how we all played together as a band. I think it turned out awesome considering that. The main melody came quick and like the other tunes this one surfaced easily.

Psychic Aloha
This tune is the only song on the album that features any synth. For that reason there is a lot of different synth sounds as the song progresses. I overdubbed the synth parts after the fact but the other instrumentation remained untouched from the original jam.

RELEASED IN
15 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL
100 ULTRA LTD SIDE A – SIDE B GREEN-BLUE-YELLOW VINYL
400 LTD CREAM VINYL
BLACK VINYL
DIGIPAK
DIGITAL

TRACKLIST
1. A Moment Expanded (A Form Constant)
2. Flesh Of The Gods
3. Psychic Aloha

CREDITS
Recorded at Gatos Trail and engineered by Dan Joeright.
Mixed and Mastered by Kent Stump at Crystal Clear Sound.
Artwork and layout by John McGill
Logo by Pia Isaksen

YAWNING BALCH is:
Gary Arce: Guitar
Bob Balch: Guitar, Synth
Billy Cordell: Bass
Bill Stinson: Drums

https://www.facebook.com/yawningmanofficial/
https://yawningman.bandcamp.com
http://www.yawningman.com/

https://www.facebook.com/bigscenicnowhere/
https://www.instagram.com/bigscenicnowhere/
https://bigscenicnowhere.bandcamp.com/releases
https://bigscenicnowherestore.bigcartel.com/

heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com
www.heavypsychsounds.com
https://www.facebook.com/HEAVYPSYCHSOUNDS/
https://www.instagram.com/heavypsychsounds_records/

Yawning Balch, Volume One (2023)

Tags: California, Heavy Psych Sounds, Joshua Tree, Volume Two, Yawning Balch, Yawning Balch Volume Two

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 15th, 2023 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Whathaveyou. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.