Anyone familiar with Liverpool’s Yammerer will understand what a redundant concept that is. After all, how can one be familiar with an outfit that not only regularly reinvents itself between releases, but also seemingly reinvents just exactly what it means to be a band in 2021.
With such a strong emphasis on the organic and the extemporised, Yammerer were never going to be just another band, and one only need look to previous single ‘The Beachgoer’ to understand that. Five minutes of droning synth, lapping waves and barely audible soundbytes all form the backdrop for a hypnotic vocal delivery, it tells the story of a nameless protagonist who finds liberation in choices being removed.
Dystopian? Perhaps. Existential certainly. But this is just one side to Yammerer’s coin. Indeed, their latest single ‘Tell Me What the Ancient Astronaut Theorists Believe’ is, in comparison at least, almost accessible, harbouring more in common with previous single ‘Boa Constrictor’ than the aforementioned.
Bass and guitar chug together inexorably bringing to mind punk bands like Dead Kennedys, or post-punk acts like WIRE. Accessible might be a stretch however, especially once the track’s narrative is taken into account.
Featuring another protagonist (now named Jon Vertigo) the track is another existential offering, this time exploring ideas of identity within capitalist constructs in true Yammerer fashion, though it shares little else in common with ‘The Beachgoer’. Instead, what ‘…Believe’ offers, is three minutes of calamitous post-punk that clatters and careers its way towards its conclusion, while harbouring both bark, and bite, in equal measure.
