Yak - Dark Side Of The Duck

Home Artist links

Yak - Dark Side Of The Duck

Artist:	Yak
Title:	Dark Side Of The Duck
Label:	self produced
Length(s):	32 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2004
Month of review:	[10/2005]

Line up

Martin Morgan - kurzweil k2600x

Tracks

1)	Theme	2.16
2)	Aragorn	5.18
3)	Leylines Of Yak	4.34
4)	Yakrise	5.49
5)	Frustration	4.36
6)	Migration	3.13
7)	Earthogrub	3.09
8)	The Swan	3.21

Summary

The story of this band is somewhat complicated, but can be read on the back of the cd. Summarizing, there used to be a band called Yak who thought up a few ideas for songs. Over the past twenty years, Martin Morgan kept the heritage alive and recorded some of them. And here they are. The cover is really charming, by the way.

The music

Theme is very much soundtrack like, a mellow fluent piece of melodic keyboards (not surprising since that is all that is played on this album).

Aragorn continues the line but more song like: the atmosphere is one of peace and quiet, the melodic material is good. It is a combination of piano and fluent synths that may remind some of Tony Banks in their feel. The drums also set in, programmed drums I presume, but that they are programmed is not really a problem here (they often are). Still, this reminds me less of progressive rock than of the melodic side of Tangerine Dream in the eighties. Thematic and melodiwise everything is fine, but the music is a bit static when played in this way.

Leylines Of Yak means a bit more beat and groove to the music. However, the single instrument has its limitations when it comes to this kind of music. It easily waters down to muzak. Also, the music is more meander style here, which does not help.

Yakrise shows a ressemblance to Camel in their Snowgoose period. Frustration moves to more jazzrockish things with the drum programming becoming a bit more complicated. The die down, and the resurgence of music halfwya works well, it reminds me a bit of the ending of Subterranea's first disc. When the music stays melodic and does not try to rock or groove things are quite okay. But when the musuc starts to meander, there is no groove to support it. And that melody at the end here for instance, is a real beauty.

Migration is a bit in the vein of the do-it-yourself American proggers, who can compose, but often turn up with something that lacks that necessary spark of life.

Earthogrub opens very much in ELPish style, or After Crying if you like. This is one of the better openings, very symphonic, and well in line with the possibilities of the player. Then the beat sets in a bit more, repetitively. The main reference point is Camel, at their most laidback.

The Swan is the closer of slightly over half and hour of Yak. This is EM again, and I wish Yak would have stuck to that instead. The feeling is one of melancholy.

Conclusion

Although I can see the virtue in leaving something for posterity, much of the music would have come out better with a band, although some of the music is simply not very interesting. But which is which can be difficult to decide. I sometimes get the feeling of listening to eighties TD (and there the instrumentalist comes off as most natural), while the more up-beat tunes need programmed drums that sometimes work and sometimes don't. References exist to Camel, and a bit of meandering jazzrock. When Yak wants to rock, things go wrong: a single instrumentalist cannot replace a well-oiled band (unless he is some kind of recording genius I guess). Still, it is good that some of the good melodies are indeed recorded for posterity, but I am afraid this is not enough to interest people in Martin Morgan's efforts.