Pitchfork

Yellow Swans' penchant for myth-making-- they often go by D. Yellow Swans, so that the "D" can stand for, you know, different things-- tends to hide just how well-meaning they can be when they're not trying so hard. The first Yellow Swans studio full-length came titled Bringing the Neon War Home, cause that's what they wanted to do; here, they call for Psychic Secession, because that's where they're headed. Leader Pete Swanson wants to bring us along: "From false election to fear conspiracy/ I had to change my mind/Psychic secession/ We have to change our minds".

Swanson and fellow Swan Gabriel Mindel Saloman are third-way guys-- oppositional, yes, but inclusive as well. The line "I woke up with dreams in my life" from the song "I Woke Up" rings twice: Once lyrically, and once at the song's 5:10 mark, when their decaying and nihilistic junk gets brought back to life with just handclaps and a skipping drum machine. The track's ensuing effects are spun out and yo-yoed back with charisma; the beats stitched together by three additional percussion credits.

Of their brethren in beats-- Forcefield, Mindflayer, Wolf Eyes-- Yellow Swans' noise is less crowd-oriented in the neck-injuring sense, but more catchy: They get up into not just your gut, but your friend's, too. In their common denominating way, Yellow Swans feel (but don't sound) like Swanson's other part-time pastime, Badgerlore, who united their friends by hanging out in the woods away from it all on Stories for Owls, a forest in which everybody got to play an instrument.

"True Union", a song that asks to "seal us in a true union," takes the ghostly delicacy of Badgerlore and applies to it feedback and backbeats built of fuzz. Cinematic in scope but comfortable in scale, it's calming, jittery, and, just when they've got you on their team, violent: Bellowing arching screams and vocoder, oceanic wave-crash, and electronic burns make whatever peaceful union they forge into a threat.

There are those who want Yellow Swans, like they want fellow former Narnack roster guys Parts and Labor, to "save" noise from itself: put a beat to it, melody on top of it, or bring hooks-- to make the stuff sound unlike itself. But if the Load Records tag on Psychic Secession didn't clue you, Yellow Swans aren't pandering or fleeing their pack: They are those outsider dudes, not salesmen. If their pitch is attractive, maybe it's not them; maybe it's you.