The new album from Sound of Yell, Leapling, out now via the reliable Chemikal Underground, is a record that mixes elements of folk, chamber pop, and post-rock effortlessly. Quietly compelling, the release seems modest in ambitions, but it transfixes in spots.
Stevie Jones, the main person here behind Sound of Yell, uses the jazz-flavored passages in "Boneless One" to convey hints of chaos intruding on the serene overall vibe, even as the title cut made me think a tiny bit of label-pioneers The Delgados, and even Badly Drawn Boy. Elsewhere, "Burn Bridged" is more abstract in spots, the gently roiling percussion here carrying this forward, while "Angel Lights" uses strings to establish a similar sort of momentum. If "Winged Cadence" should appeal to fans of, say, Alasdair Roberts (who appears here on this album), that's good as this tune, like a handful here, owes a debt to that kind of new English folk.
Stevie Jones, helped here by Roberts, Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian), and a host of other musicians, makes music that sounds like the soundtrack to a modern film. The material is not pretentious, but it is full of artistic aspirations. And the production by Paul Savage (The Delgados) should give you a sense of the kind of approach you're going to find on this record. Devotees of Soft Machine, Durutti Column, and Mull Historical Society should find elements here that appeal, even as Jones works hard to map out his own unique territory here.
Leapling is out now via Chemikal Underground.
More details on Sound of Yell via the official website.
[Photo: Chemikal Underground]