Yawning Chasm "The Shadow is That Hidden"

It's no secret I've got a major woody for the Rusted Rail label, and with that said, I think Yawning Chasm's distressingly brief EP might be their best release thus far. In just these six brief songs, Aaron M Coyne has crafted a hauntingly exquisite work of personal, idiosyncratic psych-folk. Employing little more than his strummed electric guitar and his sublimely understated, Kozelek-meets-early-Callahan voice, Coyne designs passionate and memorable songs that come off as original despite their minimalist composition. The brief EP reaches its summit with the resplendently longing "Monsters," which weds a radiant yet low-key guitar line to a sweet vocal melody. It's a mesmerizingly pretty work that recalls work by the Red House Painters and C.W. Vrtacek. Yet this four minute bit of perfection is surrounded by an impressive supporting cast, including hypnotic "Your Bones Will Bleach White" and lachrymose "Stars are Going Out." The Shadow Is That Hidden may be frustratingly short, but it's also consistently great, and that helps make it one of the strongest psychedelic folk releases in recent memory.
Indieville

Titled 'The Shadow is That Hidden', these six tracks strip-down the arrangement to mainly guitar and a little keyboards, though with no less ingenuity in song-writing, nor lyricism. Recalling a number of down-tempo bands of the wounded Indie era - Codeine, Cobalt, Bedhead - the minor notes and hushed, lazily-melodic verses reverberate in the low ceiling of an overcast day, feeling as small and strangely cozy, and rather contradictory to the McCarthyian symbolism in songs titled "Distant Fires", "Tumble River", or "Your Bones Will Bleach White". Probably not the choicest of comparisons, but the chord progressions and watery chorus effect in "To The Void" - relentless melancholy, and lyrical stroll - echoes Three Mile Pilot (whose recent comeback 7" I just listened to - but the comparison holds true beyond this, and the late-dawning repetition in the first sentence of this review, please believe me). The portastudiobility of all these songs are most evidently realized in the closing track, as bird sounds and the whir of ambient electricity bring a total range to such a simplistic strum and refrain; the creative glut of A Minor Forest are called to mind, but more so the ambitious poverty of that era.
Animal Psi

The Shadow Is That Hidden by Yawning Chasm is another lovely 3" CD from Ireland's Rusted Rail label. A solo project for Aaron M. Coyne, this is a 6-track EP of mesmerizing dream-folk, the songs softly bouncing overhead like a handmade child's mobile. My highlight is 'Monsters', an arc of luminescent strums and Coyne's voice - often only a murmur - is similarly lullaby-esque.
Jeanette Leech/Shindig Magazine

We've got a couple of 3" cd's from the excellent Rusted Rail label this week. I've been assigned 'The shadow is that hidden' EP from Yawning Chasm, a one man bedroom producer and songwriter (and one half of Mirakil Whip) Aaron M. Coyne. This is beautifully crafted, hypnotic folk of the like you don't hear much nowadays. Simple guitar motifs are punctuated by thoughtful and reflective vocals and executed in short sharp doses. Some of the additional guitar effects and sounds help push these formal sounding tracks into the space zone. This is particularly apparent on opener 'To the void' and 'Tumble River' that have a slight Syd Barrett feel to them. Sort of reminds me of my fave solo artist of the moment, Ducktails sans all the mashed up sound experiments and such. Blissful musings and beautiful melodies, what more could you ask for eh? Not much....
Norman Records

Another beautifully presented release from this Irish-based label. The cd features six tracks from Yawning Chasm, which is basically a solo outing from Mirakil Whip member Aaron M Coyne. The album was recorded in early 2009 to four-track cassette in Galway and features a lovely rustic selection of weird folk sounds with hints of early psychfolk and intimate lo fi bedroom indie folk.
Road Records

Yawning Chasm is Aaron Coyne, one half of Irish duo Mirakil Whip. Slow shed-recorded songs accompanied by gorgeous (mandolin/guitar) finger-picking, casio and a haunting use of delay/reverb and shortwave radio that gives the songs the feeling of being beamed in from afar. Dreamy melancholia and a wonderful companion release to the Agitated Radio Pilot 3".
Boa Melody Bar

Yawning Chasm is the stage name of Galway underground singer-songwriter Aaron Coyne. He is well known to many music heads in the city as one half of electro/guitar band Mirakil Whip, but through Yawning Chasm he explores a modern, ruminative, psychedelic folk-rock. The stand-out track on the EP is 'Tumble River' where Aaron's voice echoes through a sinister, swirling, spindly sound produced by a Yamaha Portosound keyboard fed through several effects pedals. Although I hate pigeon holing things, the song is excellent Goth-psych-folk. The EP's six songs were written, performed, and recorded by Aaron onto 4-track cassette in the cosy confines of a shed in Galway, throughout April, May, and June. It may sound primitive (4-track was the height of technology in 1967!) but "The Shadow Is That Hidden" has a rich, deep, and full sound, more impressive than its humble origins suggest.
Galway Advertiser