North-London collective Yossarian have had their noses to the grindstone recently. With the crowdfunding page for their third studio album now up and running, the next stop on what is a seemingly never-ending merry-go-round of tours, releases and announcements is a music video for Talking Too Loud, the sixth track on their sophomore outing Light Up My Head.
The video bears a premise that has often been seen before. It’s a tale of the dangers and consequences of the all-too-common cocktail of impressionable youth, a suffocating parent and the uncontrollable need to hide the parts of ourselves that would stop us from fitting in. In a sleepy, sunkissed, suburban-looking part of a city somewhere, the story, in no small part due to the acting, burns with a passion and intensity that, while only a sizzle at first, ultimately crescendos in harmony with Yossarian’s music and Ash’s smokey vocals until the whole situation has burst into flames. The video owes a lot to the cinematography for this; the not-perfectly-steady camera work and panache with which the protagonist pulls off his thousand yard stare engage us from the get-go, and keep us engaged until the final notes, and the final actions of the film have settled down.
As for the track, it’s classic Yossarian. The ambient, distorted guitar and soft-spoken lyrics lull one into a false sense of security, and it’s impossible to realise that the gut-punching crescendo is happening until it’s already started, such is the craft and nuance with which the band pull the song off.
Yossarian are currently in Australia on yet another stretch of their practically-constant tour, before returning to the UK to record their third crowdfunded album.
Words by Ben Kitto, feature image by Patrick Gunning.