Desolation Yes! - Out of Orbit

by Dave Goodwin

published: 8 / 3 / 2013

Label: Desolate Records
Format: CD

Experimental and eerie second album from highly-touted Glaswegian band Desolation Yes!, which lives up to all expectations

Review

So, welcome to Desolation Yes! A strange concoction of Scottish and Slovakian, the four piece are currently based in Glasgow. For Paul Elliott (vocals, synth and programming), Jagged (guitar and programming), Miro Cuba (drums, percussion,synth) and Shisho (bass), this is their second album, and a nice little sojourn it is too. Their use of synth, samplers and drum machines is quite exceptional in places. It has to be said, however, that they are not just an electronic outfit as the music generated here is more diverse than that. Desolation Yes! have also been described as electro-rock, industrial, futurepop, ebm, techno, dance/rock and synthpop. To be honest, I don't think you could label this talent if you tried. The band themselves have declared a love of all genres of music, and describe their music simply as "experimental". Desolation Yes! began working with Scottish independent record label Neon Tetra Records in 2008, who releaed their debut album, 'CyberNation', and also their double A-sided single 'Templeton/Instinct', which they co-wrote with the Cosmic Rough Riders. 'CyberNation' was recorded at Chem19 with Andy Miller (Franz Ferdinand/Mogwai) and was mixed by Ian Carmichael (One Dove), and spawned the single 'Future Pop' when it was officially released in 2010. 'Desolation Yes!'have been working on 'Out of Orbit' since 2011, and in a return to their roots they decided to produce it themselves. This is not just an average album from any average band though. Hidden inside the wonderfully packed neon blue/black cover of electric clouds that shelter the manic faces within, there are elements of theatre and performance art as well as structural and technical experiments in exploring their central theme of detachment, which they do through an on-going narrative. The first three tracks on this album are distinctively 80's-orientated, with a frenetic guitar racing away across opener 'Shivers' with it male but Siouxsie-influenced vocals and through to the Placebo echoes of third track 'One'. 'Silence', the fourth song, is the start of the synth tracks, and moves into again 80's-influenced dance territory depicting a "crazy world of hopeless hope." 'Army of Flesh' with its military style start and word sampled voiceover asks confusingly, "Do you like what you done/Do you like yourself? I think I feel but.....I think....... I don't know." Other outstanding songs are the slower 'America', which uses a drum machine for its intro. Its damning lyrics of "Americans let down by America" are possibly blasting the American government after Hurricane Katrina, when it left people to starve and die in its aftermath. It livens up midway through with a Sex Pistols-style vocal, before ending peacefully with guitar strumming and synth as if nothing has ever happened. Every now and then they let themselves go and get punked out on this album, which focuses throughout on human frailties and behaviour. Having had extensive airplay on various radio stations such as XFM and Radio 1, and a host of positive reviews for the last album when they were hailed as "Glasgow’s next big", it is not hard to see why expectations should be high with this album, but they have more than lived up to that.