Yak
Pursuit Of Momentary Happiness

The idea of sacrificing oneself in the name of art has almost become a cliché in a music scene where sensationalism is often placed ahead of everything, even the music itself.

This is not the case with Yak, particularly with frontman Oli Burslem: he truly went bankrupt and ended up sleeping in his car after a meeting with Jay Watson (Pond, Tame Impala) led to a series of unfruitful recording sessions at Kevin Parker's studio, who is Watson's bandmate. Back in his home country, Burslem got back to work after eighteen months: this time, the right spark ignited with Jason Pierce of Spiritualized, who convinced Oli to work with Bjork's producer, Marta Salogni, as well as with Jack White's Third Man Records.

The result is fabulous, clearly superior to the already more than good debut three years ago, "Alas Salvation." The new "Pursuit Of Momentary Happiness" is a sumptuous, lived-in, inspired album, and it manages to perfectly capture the huge energy and abrasiveness of the British band's live performances. Salogni does an extraordinary job in providing the perfect atmosphere to each single track of the work, a work that is absolutely non-trivial and offers many different atmospheres from one to another.

There is a block of tracks that makes immediacy its flag: these include the opener "Bellyache" (with some points of contact with Pond themselves), the grungy guitars of the following "Fried" and the very violent single "White Male Carnivore" (Jack White surely smiled with satisfaction) and the unleashed psych of "Pay Off Vs The Struggle." Perhaps the only somewhat derivative track is "Layin' It On The Line," which explores territories already widely covered by the best Kasabian, but it's really a minor flaw.

For the rest, we find Yak perfectly at ease in the art of daring: the title track is a languid dream pop ballad, "World Fail Me" draws from the more auteur-driven sixties, "Encore" grazes jazz shores, and the closing "This House Has No Living Room" (with the much-appreciated collaboration of J Spaceman of Spiritualized) makes its own the lesson of the very latest, amazing Arctic Monkeys and reworks it with great success.

One of the most beautiful albums of this early part of 2019. Burslem's sacrifices have been fully repaid, with interest.

Best track: This House Has No Living Room