Yen Harley-The substance of things

dyingGiraffs
2010


Yen Harley are an alternative rock band from The Netherlands whose roots only go back a few years. Singer/guitarist Lukas Batteau had briefly had a band under this name,but they broke up rather quickly. With ideas in his and head and guitar in hands he kept working more on his own and wrote and recorded a demo. He played these songs accosticly at open mic nights at various clubs in 2007. He realized he was looking for a darker sound and soon he teamed up with drummer Berry Vink, bassist Josine van der Splinter and guitarist Rolf Perdok in 2008. So this band was formed and Batteau realized those songs he had written on his accostic guitar would transfer better to a rock format. His new band kept working and perfecting those songs that were now a few years old and eventually they formed the foundation for this album. Batteau was influenced by 90's bands like Alice in chains, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam and that shows in these songs. The overall sound is a melancholy style of alternative rock. The songs are smooth with a definite attention to detail and melodies. I was particularly impressed by several of the guitar solos. Now the major downside of this album because obvious rather quickly. That is the fact that so many of the songs are so similar. There is a definite lack of variation in the pace of these songs because almost every track falls into the medium slow range. The closer "By Starlight" is easily the best track on the album because they push the bounderies a little and pace changes a little. I was really hoping for one or two songs where they would really step up the tempo or have a song or two with a couple of solid pace changes within the song, but that never happened. Still fans of 90's alternative music will enjoy this one and it's always good to see a musician stick with material they believe in even it takes a few years until they get to record it like they want to.