Yellow Swans make the kind of colossally heart-breaking noise that transforms any sober, regular hour you have in a day into some sort of warm, pressurized fever dream. Like a nap you didn?t expect to take, a nap where you dream about people you thought you?d lost, or about faint and slightly unnerving childhood memories. The kind of dream you wake up from and can still taste in your throat. Those already familiar with the duo, I would hope, know this firsthand.

?Deterioration? was originally a cassette only available for a few dates of a European tour. Like a majority of their releases, it is relatively hard to come by. But Modern Radio has given it a proper CD release, and so much the better, for it is certainly an excellent launching point for those uninitiated to the duo?me, included. And though I was bummed to learn that I would not likely be hearing any more from Pete Swanson and Gabriel Saloman?s Yellow Swans moniker, I am sure to be spending the next month or so searching all corners of the internet for the most limited of their releases as though sick with addiction.

?Deterioration? opens with the 21 minute near-masterpiece ?Broken Eraser/ Time Stretch?. Though it builds up patiently and sustains churning, almost transparent melodies through ever changing layers of thick, glorious drones, the piece ends rather abruptly, opting to rather listlessly fade out quickly as opposed to leaving as patiently as it enters. in all honesty, I wanted the intricacies of ?Broken Eraser/ Time Stretch? to last the entire release. Though the subsequent tracks are undeniably pretty, they don?t seem to sustain the rapturous, grinding blend of guitar, electronics, and vocals, let alone careen through multiple, seamlessly implemented movements as well as their predecessor. ?Reintegration? and ?Burnt dub? greatly reduce the number of layers, each focus on a simple guitar sequence then gradually swell the presence of static to give way to a beautifully sounding drone that serves as a slightly disappointing climax. ?Burnt Dub? closes with a wailing, high pitched guitar solo that is again rather gracelessly faded out, a trope I just can?t help but now find unnecessary the second time around.

The brief untitled fourth track lays down a slab of cavernous, low pitched ambience below trembling watery electronics that foreshadow the final track ?Dirty Heads?, a full fifteen minutes of moaning vocals and slowly oscillating guitar feedback, tinged with burst of pulsating high pitched electronics. It?s a lot gauzier than the intro, though it has a little less going on in its more obviously separated, rather similar movements?each progressively shorter than the last. ?Deterioration? closes out to a blast of distant power strumming that sounds like its being broadcast from an approaching helicopter, a perfectly fitting ending were it not the third outro-quality movement of the track.

?Deterioration? did launch me into warm and slightly unsettling daydreams, but there was willingness on my part, as opposed to the times I accidently put myself to sleep toying around with low frequency oscillators. Something about Yellow Swans is at first incredibly arresting and then deeply comforting to the point of hypnosis. ?Deterioration? showcases that right off the bat, as well as with its more striped down middle. Though I caught myself pleasantly drooling as ?Dirty Heads? gave its blasting outro, repeated listens find the latter half sometimes disappointing, though still as remarkable and intricate as it?s opening piece. 8/10 -- John Ganiard (18 June, 2008)