This record is a quasi self-released (as part of some wacky deal with garageband.com) seven-song mini-album. YH is your basic Pop-Rock four-piece — guitars, melodies and harmonies, just the way we like ’em – hailing from around DC.
It starts off with two short, very cool, rocking tunes: (Write Off) Summer and Red Car. They’re drawn with high, keening lead vocals, alternatingly gruff & sharp electric guitars and driving rhythms. The ending Beach Boy style harmony and the synth whirl is a nice touch on the former, while the latter, a bit tougher, has an indelible chorus even though I have no idea what they’re going on about.
The middle section, Girl You Know, All By Design & Ezmirelda (sic), lays back a bit. The first is a ballad of longing with a long, ringing, Morse code guitar intro that holds the centre through the whole number as the melody is carried aloft by the voices (including a brief, guesting, female backing one).
The second brings back the noise and revolves around the bass, inducing just the right amount of tension as it hews its course. The third is a winsome, mid-tempo song full of ringing guitars, a comfortable vocal (even the efx-treated, R.E.M. bit in the bridge) and nicely swaying, rolling melody.
Things tail off with the final two numbers which seem to lose the focus on melody: the noisy Sick In Bed, which gets dragged down by its extended repetitive parts, and Smiles, also particularly, repetitively rhythmic and way too stretched out at five minutes plus.
[Released by Garageband Rec. 2001]
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