Yawn
“But there’s a fortune to be had/From telling people you’re sad,” Bill Ryder-Jones sings on pensive opener “There’s Something on Your Mind.” As sardonic as that lyric is, the former Coral guitarist has said he writes better songs when he’s unhappy—and his solo career has been a compelling testament to that. After 2011’s *If…*, an orchestral score inspired by Italian novelist Italo Calvino’s *If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler*, he retired to his old bedroom in his mother’s house to record the hushed, soul-baring folk of 2013’s *A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart* before adding ’90s alt-rock to the palette for *West Kirby County Primary* in 2015. On *Yawn*, he kneads that mix into beautiful, expansive reflections on loss and regret. Softly struck drums and sighing cellos accompany hypnotically persistent guitar riffs as each track unfolds carefully and slowly—sorrow this unresolved takes time to express. His words are candid, occasionally barbed and witty: “I remember what we did and when/And the smell of your breath/And even all the names of your d\*ckhead friends” (“Time Will Be the Only Saviour”). With his fractured whisper, Ryder-Jones draws you so intimately into his world that it’s startling to finally hear another voice glide into the background of “John.”
Yawn is the fifth studio album. It was released in November 2018 under Domino Recording Co Ltd. “But there’s a fortune to be had/From telling people you’re sad,” Bill Ryder-Jones sings on pensive opener “There’s Something on Your Mind”. As sardonic as that lyric is, the former Coral guitarist has said he writes better songs when he’s unhappy—and his solo career has been a compelling testament to that. After 2011’s If…, an orchestral score inspired by Italian novelist Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, he retired to his old bedroom in his mother’s house to record the hushed, soul-baring folk of 2013’s A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart before adding ’90s alt-rock to the palette for West Kirby County Primary in 2015. On Yawn, he kneads that mix into beautiful, expansive reflections on loss and regret. Softly struck drums and sighing cellos accompany hypnotically persistent guitar riffs as each track unfolds carefully and slowly—sorrow this unresolved takes time to express. His words are candid, occasionally barbed and witty: “I remember what we did and when/And the smell of your breath/And even all the names of your d*ckhead friends” (“Time Will Be the Only Saviour”). With his fractured whisper, Ryder-Jones draws you so intimately into his world that it’s startling to finally hear another voice glide into the background of “John”.
Yawn finds Bill Ryder Jones further honing his distinct brand of permanently overcast unease
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Bill's fragile whisper of a croon only adds to the aura of lethargic night times spent alone.
Like pensive clouds crawling over a dramatic landscape, Bill Ryder-Jones' songs take time to develop, scattering their various moods and tones along the way.
Bill Ryder-Jones returns with an immersive, melancholic fourth solo-effort retaining the sincerity and intimacy that have characterised his post-Coral work
On Bill Ryder-Jones' fifth studio album, the ever morose and contemplative singer/songwriter takes on the daily indignities of living through relationships from behind a screen of doubt and detachment.
Bill Ryder-Jones follows his watershed third album 'West Kirby County Primary' with a gentler touch on the local and the familial 'Yawn'.
Sonically, Bill Ryder-Jones's Yawn sounds like a quiet storm rolling in. Not the sound of thunder or destruction, but of constant, pounding rain
Bill Ryder-Jones explores emotions with a touching depth and makes his arrangements match the tone perfectly in our review of the sombre 'Yawn'
The tunes seem to spill out of Bill Ryder-Jones, leavening his stark arrangements and mordant lyrics to envelop listeners
Fourth album crackles with intimacy and floors with its candour. Album review by Jo Southerd