Weekly > Reviews
Yesan Damen - Chronos / Kairos
American band Yesan Damen appears to be made up of Arick Gouwerok (electric and upright bass) Daniel Kwak (vocals, guitar, synth and organ plus songwriter, producer and strings arrangement) and Michael Lerner (drums/percussion and vocals) plus a cast of thousands. Not really but sixteen different people are given credit for hand clapping, backing vocals, violin, viola, banjo, cello, flute, changgo, guitar, trumpet plus co production and strings arrangement.
The first track is Whoa, great title for a song, does exactly what it says on the tin, lots of whoa’s and oh’s which could have been annoying but were quite catchy in the end. A good pop number which grew on me after a few plays.
Next up Monument To Ambition, good vocal and harmonies combined with great guitar riffs. It had an almost anthemic sound not too dissimilar to the brit pop of the 90’s but also a little Snow Patrol creeping in due to the vocals, which even though they sounded a little weak when combined with the music the result was pretty good.
The next track had a very Beach Boys/Keane feel in vocals and music, Hang For Dear Life is an ok track, taking on an almost Embrace feel, perhaps because of the intro and the viola/violins, Embrace have often used this kind of strings arrangement but personally speaking not always successfully. I also wasn’t keen on the vocals on the intro, quite weak, which lets this track down a little, however when the chorus comes in it takes on the anthemic sound, which is good.
Outer Space for me was one of the strong tracks on the album, it has great guitar in the intro, much stronger vocals, is faster in tempo and although another track in the style of Snow Patrol, for me its a winner. Suns Will Set And Rise , again sounded a little like Embrace, acoustic guitars in the intro, nice vocals especially when Jane Lee combines with Daniel Kwak, the sound is beautiful. On the negative side, this track became a little monotonous after a while, as it doesn’t pick up the tempo much. One of the weaker tracks on the album for me was Consequence, it has a pretty sound with nice Banjo but overall quite bland.
- Yesan Damen
- Chronos / Kairos (2008)
- Category: Album
- Label: New Wine Records
- Reviewed by: Smartie
- Published on: 11 Feb 2008
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
Weblinks
Add to favouritesTime Spent Elsewhere was a bit jollier and again sounded like the Beach Boys, the hand clapping gave it a happy sound but it overall again is a bit bland. The best track on the album was for me American Riot, another anthemic track, with a strong chorus line combining with great guitars. For me this track really shows what Daniel Kwak can do when he lets go with the vocals.
Last track was Canons of Devotion, this was another really weak track the vocals sounded very distorted and even though again they had that Brian Wilson/Beach Boys thing happening it just didn’t work for me. Musically it sounded jumbled the cello and trumpet didn’t shine through at all. However it did sound like someone had a didgeridoo in the background but since this wasn’t mentioned on the credits perhaps a bad case of wind.
The promo material recommends tracks 1,3,4,8 and 10 personally I preferred 2,5,6 and 9, which overall means I liked the exact opposite of what they recommend with the exception of track 7 which neither of us seemed over keen on, however this is only a personal review and I am sure 10 different people could have 10 different opinions.
The sound is all a bit similar to stuff which have gone before but on a positive note what they have done is so well balanced and put together its really hard to have an overall negative view. I don’t think they will set the music world on fire but I guess that this sound will command a small but loyal fan base. I can see me holding on to this cd and playing it again, so overall I would have to admit that I quite like what I hear.
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