Whilst you could argue, chronologically at least, that everything made since, say, 1978 is post-punk, such a broad genre still has an identifiable overall sound. Yes To All certainly qualify as torchbearers for that sound, and Into The Vacuum, their latest EP, is less a snapshot of what post-punk was all about back in the day but what it sounds like in the present.
“She Can Win” is a gnarly, gnashing blend of stomping, electronically enhanced grooves and snarling vocals, razor-wire guitar lines, and a great musical dynamic formed from well-placed pauses where the foot is taken off the gas and more ornate sounds are allowed to permeate.
The title track is a gorgeous, and gorgeously dark piece, one that finds itself at a place where darkwave pools and percolates around cinematic, perhaps even post-classical gothic vibe and “Hang on the Lido” reminds us that the gothic movement and the New Romantic sound evolved from the same alternative dance floors before one headed overground and the other opted for a more discerning journey.
“Greece” is a blend of coiled guitars soaked in cool ambient sonic drifts, and “Transition” rounds things off with a fist-in-the-air, anthemic stygian alt-rocker.
Into The Vacuum is less a tipping of the hat to what has gone before and much more a statement about where those post-punk sounds are today and, as such, a projection of where they might go next. And thanks to bands such as Yes To All, the future looks very bright indeed, in the darkest possible way, if you get what I mean.
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