Album Review: Day in a Yellow Beat by Yellow Days

Around his emergence back in 2016, George Van Den Broek's Yellow Days sat at the mellow edges of indie, mixing a hazy, lo-fi singer-songwriter aesthetic with jazzy inflections; think Mac DeMarco taking on blue-eyed soul. And while the Canadian troublemaker does, in fact, make an appearance on the Surrey songwriter's second, it's the flip side of his sound that takes centre-stage on 'A Day In A Yellow Beat': it's a jazz deep-dive. There are sampled, spoken-word interludes ("The trippers, the grasshoppers, the hip ones, all gathered in secrecy, and flying high as a kite" goes '(Pot Party)' as if you required any hint as to where George's head might be); further guest spots from noted UK trumpeter Nick Walters and American R&B singer Shirley Jones.

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The perplexing, sometimes fun, and certainly lengthy A Day in a Yellow Beat from British oddball George van den Broek is both an ambitious leap of faith and a journey of unkempt self-indulgence. Known professionally as Yellow Days, the 21-year-old singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist certainly isn't lacking in confidence, offering up as his sophomore release (and major-label debut) a hefty double-album's worth of wonky faux-soul, indie synth-funk, and sampledelic bedroom pop, all deeply rooted in the 1960s and '70s. Much like Mac DeMarco did for that era's soft rock, Yellow Days sets his D.I.Y.

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