REVIEWS

Despite the "dreadful" name, this band has put together the greatest album Neil Young never released. With a sound as pure and endless as a prairie wind, this Ohio-based quartet sounds like the "Godfather of Grunge" in his heydey with a healthy dose of The Jayhawks tossed in. Reviewers have compared the band favorably with Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, and Fairport Convention, but this band manages to form its own identity with tasty banjo licks and a mournful harmonica. Fans of alt-country will love this disc. Now, if we can just do something about that name..... - Dug / Skratch magazine
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There are melodramatic undertones to many of the songs that produce an indie-rock sound, and then there are harmonica and banjo lines that give it a country feel, unlike the twangy, annoying pop country that you hear today on the radio. Although this is the Yawns' third CD, it is the first released by Bomp, and undeniably the best yet.
The opening song on the disc, You Sold the Farm is one of the most indie-pop sounding tracks. It starts off slow and begins to sound almost Ben Folds-ish. The lead singer has a soothing and calming voice. The seventh track Waking Up to You, sounds similar to the first. It is another soft song and the singer's voice is again highlighted. A few of the other songs with this feel are Part of Your Past, with a slow, relaxed sound highlighted with great piano lines, and Lullaby, by far the most folk rock-like sound with a slow, soothing sound and heavy guitar riffs. All of these songs are a little commercial sounding, but do so without sounding like the band's primary goal was to get played on the radio. Drifting quite far from the previous songs are those with a heavy country vibe. Many of the songs are speckled with the sounds of a harmonica, acoustic guitars, and a banjo. It's a refreshing change from the typical country music heard today on the radio. - Sera Kate Sims / Athens Exchange
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Review of the Dreadful Yawns album in Funhouse (Italy) - PDF file
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Wow. Talk about selling yourself short with a band name! For some that name may be too appropriate -- since this is very quiet, countrified folk rock ala The Byrds, Neil Young (or his pals Crosby, Stills & Nash. I suppose I could even mention the Eagles, but I fucking hate that band so I'll hold back). Some folks might find this sort of thing kind of boring because it's not fast or loud, but let me begin by emphatically stating that I am not one of those people. I'll admit that it took me a couple of listens before I fully got into it, but this is some very gorgeous music -- and it would sound right at home with any of the bands I mentioned (let's just forget about the Eagles though). Sleepy, laid-back vocals mingle with delicate, restless guitar, while understated traps & sunny pedal-steel brightens up the whole shebang. Once it sinks in it's wonderful. - Phil / Odyssey Zine
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For those lamenting the loss of Beachwood Sparks or any other Byrds-on-acid type bands, you should be running down this CD, as this Cleveland, OH band have the chops and vision to blow them away. While it's always tempting to drown the lazy vocals and vibe in a druggy haze, the songs come across clear and let the different instruments and layers be acknowledged, allowing the psych-rock jams to blossom. Although there are only four musicians, the Dreadful Yawns manage to pull a sound that has you imagining a stage jam-packed with a vast array of instruments. Not only that, but from the incredible steel guitar work on "Darkness is Gone," these people definitely know how to use them. - Chris Whibbs / Exclaim
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As musical trends are cyclical, it's about time we returned to the comfortable, big warm sweater music of The Mamas And The Papas and Buffalo Springfield, but since it's 2005, you could say it's a cross of The Thrills and The Magic Numbers. All those bands coattailing on The Killer's and their 80s ilk are going to be left high and dry when the fifteenth minute is up and music fans crave actual songcraft again. Enter The Dreadful Yawns, from Cleveland, a four piece who employ country rock trappings and whispery soft harmonized vocals, the light tapping on the high hat and an occasional snare drum hit. They evoke a gentler time in music and society. One of the best cuts is "It's A Charmed Life," a languid meditation on how to live life. This is pretty music, baby. And much of their beauty comes from the many singers in perfect harmony. Because this band is on Bomp! one might expect a certain level of knowingness, of self-referential injoke humor that would ruin the spell cast by the music. This is happily not the case, as TDY seem to be 100% authentic and committed to their music. TDY are not hermetically sealed in a time capsule bubble, either. They take time to show the weariness of living, the ravages of time. On "Get Straight," they improvise a 6 minute jam that builds almost like a Spiritualized drug anthem, except the onl lyrics are the occasionally whispered, "Get Straight, I can't wait until you get straight." In "Lullaby," a man goes insane through jealousy and vows to kill his lover, her new lover, and then himself. All is not sweetness and light. But TDY play this in the tradition of country themed heartbreak songs. TDY know their style is not popular and have no problem naming themselves as a nod to their slow tempos and an image hard to sell to the kids, but TDY's songs should be loved by anyone who's ever turned on those golden country rock sounds of the late 60s. - Paul / Culture Bunker
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The only really dreadful thing about this Cleveland band is their name - a jokey moniker that doesn't do justice to their dreamy, downtempo country-rock and pop. Much of this second full-length CD paces along with the sort of introspective, downtrodden tempos of Neil Young, mopier songwriters like Nick Drake and the later-day [sic] crop of Britpop shoegazers The album's mid-tempo electric tunes, particularly the 18-plus minute "The People and the Sky," have the hypnotic feel of The Feelies and neo-psych bands like The Dream Syndicate. The album's country tunes are anchored by Al Moss' pedal steel with twangy Telecaster and breezy harmonica lines adding flavor. The folky trance-pop cuts lean on acoustic strumming, chiming Byrd-like 12-strings, breathy harmony singing and reverbed guitars. The deftness with which these sounds are so serenely integrated is quite compelling, much like a tour through a musically literate friend's record collection. Fans of everything from classic Buffalo Springfield sides to later work by The Star Room Boys and alternarock bands like Television and Luna should check this out. - Eli Messinger
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I gotta tell ya, I like the twang. I love twangy voices and twangy guitars. The Dreadful Yawns deliver in this respect. They play the kind of music you would expect to hear at the local fair. A mix of psychedelic/space rock, alt-country and a big dose of Americana. This isn't to say that the band isn't worthy of things greater than playing fairs. This self-titled release is proof that the Dreadful Yawns are on to something great here. The band's influence of the late Nick Drake and the Byrds are evident on this album. With songs like "Get Yourself Back Home" and "Darkness is Gone" the band quickens the pace with plenty of twangy acoustic to keep hearts happy and feet tapping to the beat. "Back in The Ground" is a cheerful song about death that is oddly uplifting, with lyrics like "Our memory it's everywhere / And children live on". While there are a good selection of upbeat songs, there are also a large choice of slow numbers. The album kicks off with one of the slowest of all, "You Sold the Farm" an odd choice, I thought, to start things off. The soft vocals of Ben Gmetro in "It's A Charmed Life" seems to fit the mellow feel of the song about having it all "lead up to this". The lyrics of "Waking up to you" are beautifully sad and depressing, and also happens to be my favorite of all the songs on the album. It's a very real song with emotions that most people in a relationship probably go through at least once, or ten times. "Left so many times but they were always in my mind / though each time I tell myself I'll see it though". There's a beautiful six minute song titled "Get Straight" with one single line repeated throughout the song, "I can't wait 'till you get straight". - Jones Violet / Blogcritics
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Upon first listen, The Dreadful Yawns threaten to hold true to their name with what seems like watered-down folk rock. Upon second listen, the songs are still pretty basic, but classic rock influences, especially the Byrds, start seeping in. Listen again, and the twangy, low-key sound brings to mind everyone from Yo La Tengo to the Jayhawks to Loggins and Messina. The mellow melodies, simple lyrics ("And it's easy to forget me/But I know that you won't/So I'm happy to go/Back in the ground") and layered harmonies are directly influenced by 70s folk rock. Album standouts "Walking Up To You," a straight-up folk song about wanting to leave a lover, and "Drinking Song," the token lonely and twangy track, break up the seemingly monotonous sound. At any rate, The Dreadful Yawns teach us not to judge a band by its name.- Kate Kiefer / The Sentimentalist
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The brilliant thing about The Dreadful Yawns is that their easy acceptance of such a down-home sound eliminates those status-seeking individuals who just MUST have the latest "flavor of the week". What is left are true fans that can see the brilliance in the humor of the slide-heavy "Darkness Is Gone". The bluegrass-influenced guitar solo that acts as a bridge between the two sections of the song is reminiscent of some of the earlier masters of the genre (individuals like Flatt and Scruggs). The Dreadful Yawns actually break out of the country style for a more traditional, dream-pop track in "It's A Charmed Life". The track is the perfect continuance of a shifting set of styles that really provide the main reason to continue listening to the disc. When a band is able to approach a number of styles so successfully and without having any of the tracks sounding too far out there, what results is a solid disc that might just have the widest listener base. While each of the tracks on the disc had a certain charm surrounding them, it is perhaps during "Better Things To Do" that the band hits pay dirt. - James McQuiston / Neufutur
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Try and ignore, if you can, the off-putting band-name ­ a "joke" which I assume is based on what in certain parts of America today passes for irony ­ and give this quartet's second album a listen, because it's one that repays repeated listenings, and moreover an album gets better and better as the album unfolds.

The Yawns aren't doing anything startlingly original; theirs is a sound that's been well-defined and well-loved for nigh-on 40 years now, and one which has been faithfully reinvented on a regular basis ever since. Take three parts Buffalo Springfield and a dash of the Byrds, distil some of the same ideas that Fairport Convention toyed with in their early years, and take a leaf out of the Long Ryders and latterly Uncle Tupelo's book: jangling 12-strings, countrified Telecasters, harmonies, harmonicas, melodic bass and tub-thumping drums.

The Dreadful Yawns also though write singularly fine, memorable songs, wisely opening with one of the best: 'You Sold the Farm', which even has the quavering Neil Young plaintiveness off pat in the vocals department ­ 'Part of Your Past' later on in the collection is even more of a faithful homage. For a while after that the collection hovers between sounding like the Byrds circa 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' and any Buffalo Springfield album you'd care to mention (neither of which is necessarily a bad thing; 'Back in the Ground' would be a classic song wherever it hailed from), and then on what I suppose would normally be the second side of the album, track 8 onwards, the experimentation begins to kick in: 'Get Straight' comes across like a variation on 'Thoughts & Words' (from the Byrds' own 'Revolver', 'Younger Than Yesterday'); 'There's No Place Like Home' sounds like it might've found a place it could call home on Crosby's 'If Only I Could Remember My Name' ­ and what's for me the absolute pinnacle of the album, 'The People and The Sky', goes places in it's eighteen sprawling minutes of psychedelic, effects-laden mayhem that few American country-rock outfits since the Grateful Dead have dared to go. I suggest you follow them; this band has "class" stamped all the way through it. - Phil McMullen / Terrascope On Line (UK)
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Originaire de Cleveland, les Dreadful Yawns cultivent, depuis 1999, une country psychédélique. Fasciné par les Byrds de « Sweetheart of the rodeo », ce nouveau Band inscrit là un accord de toute beauté dans le clan très réservé des Bob Dylan, Neil Young et Gene Clark. Banjo, guitare douze cordes comme à la grande époque, harmonica, slide et voix de prisonniers sudistes pendant la guerre de sécession, on trouve dans ce disque tout les ingrédients pour s'isoler dans une ferme du Nevada avec un bon paquet d'herbe. Les Dreadful Yawns ne sont pas cramés par la country Buffalo Grill, l'équivalent de notre musette européenne. Ils réexploitent avec minutie le filon de leurs aînés, cités ci-dessus, auquels on peut ajouter Buffalo Springfield, The Kaleidoscope, Nick Drake ou Fairport Convention, en mélangeant l'héritage populaire de la country et des expérimentations psychédéliques. Ballades folk, pop songs, ou délires à la Grateful Dead dont le plus long fait dix-huit minutes, cet opus cherche la tranquillité hippie d'une vie au jour le jour à l'image de « Back in the ground » ou de « No destination ». Like a rolling Love ... - Alexis Kacimi / The Fake (Switerzland)
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The first time I listened to this album, I was stranded on a boat which we suspected was out of gas, somewhere on the Hudson River about a mile from the mainland. It was sometime around midnight, and we were anticipating a long wait for someone from Sea Tow to ride out and give us some fuel. I had the Dreadful Yawns CD in my bag because it had shown up in my mailbox that afternoon. I knew nothing about it, but figured what the hell, and threw it on. I learned quickly, that the new Dreadful Yawns CD is a tremendously good listen when stranded at sea. They sound like a lot of other bands from time to time ­ Wilco, Phish, or Coldplay ­ but the overwhelming "hey this sounds like" theme of the record is the Grateful Dead, and not the "wow I took 19 hits of acid and this awful noodly crap that Jerry and the boys are cranking out sounds great to me because I can see the notes forming in the air in a kind of cinemascopic rainbow" Dead ­ the good dead ­ like American Beauty and Workingman's Dead. You know, when they were kinda country. It's light and airy, filled with cleaver lyrics, steel guitar and harmonica along with hooky choruses and general all purpose greatness. And there is a seventeen-minute jam near the end. Man, I really like this album, and as I'm writing this I am on dry land, so I guess it's a great listen wherever you may be. - Mike D'Ariano / Areuonsomething Greatness: "Back In The Ground," "Waking Up To You," "The People And The Sky," "Darkness Is Gone," "Get Yourself Back Home."
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As a unique, laidback change of pace, The Dreadful Yawns present the music-consuming public with a rootsy, down-to-earth sound that brings to mind the late '60s/early '70s back-to-basics Americana music of Gram Parsons/The Byrds, Neil Young (circa After The Gold Rush and Harvest), Poco, and The Eagles (pre-Hotel California, thank goodness!). It's the mellow, breezy, acoustic-swathed folksiness of Country Rock performed from the heart and embellished with smooth, all-natural smatterings of piano, steel guitar, and harmonica. -Moser / Under The Volcano
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Ben Gmetro, Dave Molnar, Mike Allan, and Charlie Druesedow have certainly made an interesting record. The Dreadful Yawns is the kind of album that comes in and sits a spell. Soon time is suspended, the album is finished and you're wondering where the hour went so fast. Influences...sure there's a big helping of Gram Parsons, Byrds, and Grateful Dead in the mix. I'd say those are some mighty fine folk to draw inspiration from, wouldn't you? - Wally Bangs / Blogcritics
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Songs like "Get Yourself Back Home" and the jaunty "Darkness Is Gone" trade on shuffle beats, twangy acoustic and electric guitars (including some fine pedal steel on the latter), and sleepily mumbled vocals. Tempos, which before had mostly been at a narcotized crawl, are much more varied this time out; combined with the new "everybody sings" band policy, the more eclectic results are strongly reminiscent of both the Buffalo Springfield and, more recently, Teenage Fanclub, bands where the friction of multiple singer/songwriters created enjoyably diverse albums that nonetheless hang together as the work of a single, unified group. - Stewart Mason / AMG