The other day, Ukraine’s Somali Yacht Club posted the kind of year-end summary on social media that’s become more or less standard practice for bands who, say, give a crap about engaging their fanbase. Earlier in 2022, the Lviv trio released The Space (review here) on Season of Mist, and toured alongside Greenleaf and countrymen labelmates Stoned Jesus, and for sure those came up, as well as hints of this tour that was then TBA.

Obviously they also talked about the war that’s ravaged their home country for most of the year. This week, Ukraine’s president traveled to the US and spoke to congress, etc., shoring up commitment to the aide and weaponry the US has provided thus far. To say it’s a shitty situation generally, but gosh my home nation lives a proxy war with Russia, and if Ukrainian citizens and infrastructure are slaughtered and destroyed in the interim, well, that’s eggs and omelets, innit? I honestly don’t know what the answer is there, between ‘how can you not help when your military budget is by far the highest in the world and you’ve held yourself up — wrongly, but still — as a global moral authority since the end of the Second World War’ and ‘what the fuck business is it of ours if they’re not in NATO.’ Consider it’s probably where the trillions of dollars that went to Afghanistan so girls wouldn’t be allowed in libraries now should’ve gone, but no question it’s a diplomatic conundrum well beyond my paygrade to solve, and I’m not making light of it. Unfortunately the loss of life is real, whether the American people are the ones experiencing it or not. But America has never really given a shit about that either.

I don’t see that war ending anytime soon. If the US pulls the rug out, Ukraine is likely sunk, and that’s basically a setup for genocide. If we send more missiles, what, Kyiv takes Moscow? Or Putin kicks off and all is forgiven? That doesn’t seem likely either. It’s a mess, ugly, and there’s no good answer. Hey, anyone see that trailer for Oppenheimer? Let’s not forget the latent threat of nuclear war hanging over our heads, as if to prove once and for all that humanity has learned jack squat in the last seventy years.

So anyway, happy holidays.

I guess what I’m trying to say is if Somali Yacht Club are somewhat disheartened despite the successes of the band in 2022, well, they’re human beings in a roiling shitshow of a situation, so that seems well justified. What can you do to help? Buy a record? Buy a shirt? I don’t know. That won’t end a war, but it might at least let them know someone gives a shit about what they’re doing.

Okay, that’s my piece. Here’s tour dates. They’ll be out with Psychlona. Sláva Ukrayíni:

Tour. May. 2023. Special guest Psychlona!

First time in Netherlands, UK, Croatia, Sweden, and Denmark! Don’t miss it.

02.05.2023 (PL) Warszawa, Hydrozagadka
03.05.2023 (DE) Dresden, Chemiefabrik
04.05.2023 (DE) Jena, KuBa
06.05.2023 (NL) Nijmegen, Sonic Whip*
10.05.2023 (DE) München, Feierwerk*
11.05.2023 (HR) Zagreb, Mochvara*
13.05.2023 (DE) Ludwigsburg, Scala*
14.05.2023 (DE) Hannover, Faust*
15.05.2023 (DE) Hamburg, Knust*
17.05.2023 (DK) Copenhagen, Stengade* (w/ Kanaan)
18.05.2023 (DE) Kiel, Schaubude* (w/ Daily Thompson & Kanaan)
19.05.2023 (DE) Berlin, Desertfest*
20.05.2023 (PL) Kraków Alchemia

Kudos Sound of Liberation!

Line-up:
Ihor – guitar, vocals, keys
Artur – bass
Oleksa – drums

http://facebook.com/Somaliyachtclub
http://somaliyachtclub.bandcamp.com
http://instagram.com/somaliyachtclub

https://www.facebook.com/seasonofmistofficial
http://www.season-of-mist.com/

[Click play above to stream Somali Yacht Club’s The Space in full. Album is out Friday on Season of Mist. Pre-save digital here, preorder physical here.]

The Space is the third full-length from Lviv, Ukraine’s Somali Yacht Club, as well as their first offering through Season of Mist. It arrives following 2018’s The Sea (review here) and 2014’s The Sun (discussed here) and is accordingly encompassing to suit its title. More over, it is the trio’s first long-player to arrive following their 10th anniversary in 2020, and it lands even as their home country and hometown are under attack by Russian forces in an atrocity-laced war of aggression. The band — guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist Ihor, bassist Artur and drummer Oleksa — are elsewhere and safe, but it is difficult to separate the six-song/45-minute procession from the context in which it arrives, though of course it was completed before the fighting began (unless you count the years of conflict in Crimea, in which case it goes back to the first record and before). Although, if anything were going to aid in that forgetting, it might be actually listening to the album in its entirety. As each Somali Yacht Club release has stepped forward from the last, from the warmer heavy psych of The Sun to the melancholic roll of The Sea, so too does The Space clearly state its evolution from where the band were those eventful four years ago.

Alternating between shorter and longer pieces across opener “Silver” (5:17) and the subsequent “Pulsar” (9:06), “Obscurum” (5:06) and “Echo of Direction” (9:46), and “Gold” (3:33) and closer “Momentum” (12:30), The Space is able to create a sense of movement despite a resoundingly methodical delivery, aspects of heavy post-rock in and around “Obscurum” meeting with the most complex melodies Somali Yacht Club have yet harnessed throughout, even “Gold” — which I feared would be an interlude ahead of the finale — boasting an attention to its arrangement and depth that speaks to the care the band put into their craft on the whole. The Sea was also six songs set in pairs, but the manner in which it happens here is more dynamic, and once “Silver” draws the audience into the universe Somali Yacht Club are constructing, that forward push — gentle at times, slow at times, more of a shove others — does not abate.

In this way, The Space is a monument to the richness in Somali Yacht Club‘s sound as it is today and to the artistic growth that’s led them to this point. It nods confidently at Neurosis, building off the rhythm of that band’s 2001 track “Falling Unknown” in the midsection break of “Momentum” and having its own “Stones From the Sky”-moment in “Echo of Direction,” but takes this influence and scores of others and incorporates it into an expressive sonic palette that is nothing if not Somali Yacht Club‘s own. Psychedelic and otherworldly in its purpose — it’s not called The Space because it’s so grounded — the album’s underlying structures are nonetheless firm, the fluidity that emerges in “Obscurum” as it moves into its post-midpoint wash of melody kept together not even just by the drums, but the unity of intent on the part of the whole band and the sense that, yes, they have a plan they’re playing out and that the thing to do is let them guide you through it.

“Silver” touches on pop melodicism in its crescendo, and conveys the breadth with which the rest of what follows will unfold, “Pulsar” beginning with a duly pulsing progression of bass, guitar and effects swirl over the steady drums, cascading between the serene verses and its harmonized chorus, growing peaceful and declarative in kind as it pushes through a build toward its last apex, the keyboard overtop adding to both melody and drama and assuring that the song holds its resonance even as it hits its final crashes into the sunnier beginning of “Obscurum.” This flow continues all throughout The Space — which would seem to have its vinyl side break between “Obscurum” and “Echo of Direction,” though it’s clearly built with more than one format in mind — and the trio are duly graceful as “Obscurum” surprises with a bit of solo scorch later on, feeling perhaps all the more prominent in the mix for the softer notes just before.

The drums begin “Echo of Direction” and set in motion a hypnotic heavy psych-style jam until the aforementioned Neuro-chug is established, carrying into a quieter verse, gorgeous in its layering and open feel. They tease a volume trade first and then bring back the rumble at about five minutes in before working their way back into ‘the riff,’ then execute the quicker back and forth they had hinted toward earlier, once again showcasing a structural awareness that speaks to their having a big-picture view even as they offer their audience the most breadth they’ve ever had. “Echo of Direction” is encompassing in a way that feels purposeful at the outset of the second half of the tracklist — start of side B by any other name — and that correspondingly means “Gold” is exceptionally well placed between it and the closer, the shorter and more straight-ahead motion of the penultimate cut striking just the same for its floating flourish of guitar and mellow vocals, weighted but flying like some kind of metallic airship.

“Gold” slows down as it wraps, letting the sample and more immediate start of “Momentum” convey urgency without feeling overblown. Those expecting a massive payoff in the ending of The Space will likely be satisfied by the peak in “Momentum” that lands just before the song wraps up, but like the album as a whole, it’s more about the journey to get there and the discoveries made along the way; the long, beautiful and exploratory stretch in the midsection just as engrossing as the inevitably made turn toward more outwardly heavy crunch, a last demonstration of the mastery Somali Yacht Club have over their sound as they approach veteran status from their beginnings as upstarts in what at the time was (and I suppose still is) a crowded European psychedelic underground.

In light of the conflict currently embroiling Ukraine, it is easy to read The Space as bittersweet, and Somali Yacht Club‘s craft has always had its share of melancholy. I’ll offer instead not necessarily an alternate read but perhaps one that accounts more for the awe the trio seem to express in what they’re witnessing in the songs themselves. It is as though they’re on the same journey as the listener, moving outward into the unknown, sure of the getting there even as the destination remains intentionally vague. Most of all, The Space is resonant. In shimmering guitar and rich low end, in its lush swells and directed minimalism, it is a triumph beyond expectation and a reminder that the light and warmth, the star-stuff that makes life possible, is in constant wavelength motion.

[Those interested in providing financial support to Ukraine can do so here: https://linktr.ee/HowToHelpUkraine2022]

Somali Yacht Club, “Silver” official video

Somali Yacht Club on Facebook

Somali Yacht Club on Bandcamp

Somali Yacht Club on Twitter

Somali Yacht Club on Instagram

Season of Mist website

Season of Mist on Facebook

Based in the Ukraine — maybe you’ve seen it on the news this week — heavy psychedelic trio Somali Yacht Club were announced as being picked up by Season of Mist almost a year ago. Together, the band and label set about putting together reissues for the group’s two-to-date full-lengths, 2018’s The Sea (review here) and 2014’s The Sun (discussed here), and now comes work of a third in an apparent ‘the’ series, The Space, the realization of which is being demonstrated in the first streaming single “Silver.”

Before you skip the rest of my blah blah blah and go right to the video at the bottom of this post — as you should — to check out the track, please take note of the April 22 release, the tour dates with Mars Red Sky and the fact that preorders are already up.

Okay, off you go:

SOMALI YACHT CLUB Reveals New Album, Premieres New Single

Psychedelic stoner rock trio SOMALI YACHT CLUB will be releasing their third full-length, ‘The Space,’ on April 22 via Season of Mist, making it the band’s debut to the label! The album art, tracklisting, and details can be found below. The band is now sharing the first new single, “Silver,” which can be heard at THIS LOCATION.

‘The Space’ can be pre-saved via all digital streaming platforms HERE https://orcd.co/syc-thespace
and pre-ordered HERE: https://shop.season-of-mist.com/list/somali-yacht-club-the-space

Tracklist:
1. Silver (5:14)
2. Pulsar (9:05)
3. Obscurum (5:03)
4. Echo of Direction (9:43)
5. Gold (3:31)
6. Momentum (12:29)

SOMALI YACHT CLUB have previously announced a European tour with MARS RED SKY in March 2022. A full list of confirmed shows can be found below.

SOMALI YACHT CLUB
W/ MARS RED SKY
10.03.22 Osnabrück (DE) Jugendzentrum Westwerk
11.03.22 Berlin (DE) cassiopeia Berlin
12.03.22 Dresden (DE) Beatpol
13.03.22 Hannover (DE) Béi Chéz Heinz
14.03.22 Dortmund (DE) JunkYard
15.03.22 Eindhoven (NL) Effenaar
16.03.22 Nijmegen (NL) Doornroosje
17.03.22 Luxemburg (LU) Kulturfabrik Esch-sur-Alzette
18.03.22 Paris (FR) Petit Bain
19.03.22 Karlsruhe (DE) Alte Hackerei
20.03.22 Wiesbaden (DE) Schlachthof Wiesbaden
21.03.22 Basel (CH) Hirscheneck
22.03.22 Innsbruck (AT) p.m.k
23.03.22 Salzburg (AT) Rockhouse Salzburg
24.03.22 Munich (DE) Feierwerk
25.03.22 Leipzig (DE) WERK2-Kulturfabrik
26.03.22 Hamburg (DE) Knust Hamburg

Recording studio: Jenny Records
Producer / sound engineer: Maryan Kryskuv
Mixing & mastering studio and engineer: JARO SOUND / Jaroslav Celujko

Cover art: Dasha Pliska

Pre-sales: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/syc-thespace
Available formats: CD digipak, vinyl black and coloured

Line-up:
Ihor – guitar, vocals, keys
Artur – bass
Oleksa – drums

http://facebook.com/Somaliyachtclub
http://somaliyachtclub.bandcamp.com
http://instagram.com/somaliyachtclub

https://www.facebook.com/seasonofmistofficial
http://www.season-of-mist.com/

Somali Yacht Club, “Silver” official video

Somali Yacht Club, The Sea (2018)