Album Review: Yard Of Blondes - Feed The Moon

I've never quite understood the long-term appeal of bands like Queen Of The Stone Age. Sure, I enjoyed "No One Knows" when it was a hit, and I do have a copy of "Songs For The Deaf" sitting on my shelf, but I haven't listened to it in fifteen years. I haven't bothered checking out anything they have done in almost that long, either. The thing about fuzzy music, to me, is that the fuzz also translates to my memory of it. The fuzz makes the riffs and melodies harder to enjoy in the moment, and easier to forget once that moment has passed. Given how many bands are out there who love their fuzz pedals, I realize I'm in the minority.

Yard Of Blondes remind me of Queens, with Fanny giving an angelic counterpoint rather than Mark Lanegan's sinister additions. When the vocals approach a falsetto in the chorus of "Murderology", that combination pays dividends. There's an ethereal quality to the mix that sounds like a haze of smoke floating in still air. It's something a bit different, and altogether pleasant. At times, I almost wish they took the approach of letting both voices sing and harmonize every line of every song. That would hook me.

Even when the band goes for something more aggressive, like on "You And I And I", the fuzz gives the song softer edges that make it sound more restrained than it really is. We could look at that one of two ways; either the production is robbing the band of some bite that could make these songs hit harder, or it makes these songs a heavy melodic syrup that's easier for more people to swallow. I can make the argument either way.

If we return to the comparison I've spent most of my time on already, this is where Yard Of Blondes shines. Queens will often go off on esoteric tangents, trying to be quirky and artistic for reasons that are hard to understand. They purposely want to be difficult. Yard Of Blondes wants to invite you in, wants to give you an enjoyable experience. That makes it much easier to hear the strong points of their music.

The strongest point of Yard Of Blondes' style is their emphasis on making their songs melodic, despite their fuzzy tone. Too often, bands that use sounds that obscure the clarity of their writing use that as an excuse to slack off and not bother writing compelling songs. Yard Of Blondes make sure to give every song a solid hook. With a slightly different production, we might even call what they do power-pop. "1994" would absolutely be such a song, if the guitars sounded like Weezer's "Blue Album" of said year. When you start thinking of Yard Of Blondes as a power-pop band in disguise, it opens up what they're doing.

"Feed The Moon" might be an album that takes some time to fully grasp, but when you do, you'll see there's some strong potential with what Yard Of Blondes are doing. For a debut record, they make a solid case that they have a road in front of them that can lead somewhere good. We'll have to wait and see if they make it all the way.