Yellow Ostrich
Cosmos
Reviewed by: Melissa Komar
Cosmos is definitely something to howl at the moon about, sans the solar system references and inspirations. Yellow Ostrich’s fifth album plays like a band that has polished their product like a debut and it reaches far beyond the confines of the concrete lyrics and raging guitar riffs.
Opening track “Terrors” catches you with no signs of letting go. The pleasantly redundant hook, “Cause I’m the terrors in your eyes,” is guitar-heavy and backs off during the more subdued melody. Second track, “Neon Fists”, borders on the line of an alt-rock ballad, with a decrease in tempo, but the music hits the ground running again in following tracks “Shades” and “My Moons”.
“My Moons” sees some of the most electronically induced rhythms on the album, synths loaded and 80s epic rock guitars jammin’. If you aren’t already, you’ll definitely be lost out in the cosmos by the end of this song. The album also leans in the direction of experimentation and dream-like states, most noticeable on “In the Dark”. Just under three minutes, the track offers a beautiful musical retreat to listeners.
“Any Wonder”, what seems to be pushed as the lead single, begins eerily like the The Beatles’ “Come Together”. Its lyrics are probably the most introspective on the album, asking, “I wanna feel small, don’t you?”
Overall, Cosmos will leave your breathless and begging you to ask the bigger questions in life. The crisp conclusions to each track break up the album in a way that many topics can be covered over a large space of time. The scope of the sound is vast, changing from song to song, and the change is welcomed. Expand your universe and get lost in Cosmos.
Rating: Bad-Ass
