When one speaks of freedom in the modern world, or a world gone past—there are oftentimes allusions to some arduous battle in overcoming political turmoil, obstruction or insurmountable conflict. There are stark but worn faces raising their fists up in solidarity or protest, photographed in austere black and white, a headline hanging above their head in bold firm letters. And nonetheless it becomes an iconic memory that forms a time and a place.
The Yearning, Hypomanic Daydream’s fifth release is indeed a statement of that ilk — albeit in vibrant purple and orange, painted with bristled brush of acrylic and an attitude akin to an army of McMasters and Jeffreys. It is a pixelated fever dream leaping out of the canvas of Flaming June by Frederic Leighton, a dash of red across the midst of a circling of figures in Richard Dadd’s Titania Sleeping. It is the murkiness of classical met with the reverence of a future rich with such color that the world is uncertain what to do with it.
When one paints with such a confrontational tone, there cannot be any sign of hesitation in approach as the maker understands that this frontier is new, untrodden, and will burn away any impurities upon entering this troposphere. Jesters of Destiny, Harmony Bay, Wayd all approached this celestial crest of ascents only to fly off into the precipitation of the clouds. The Yearning sits firmly in the vapor of the cirrus.
This is the blue flame in the high speed chase at 300mph in the WipEout Terramax track, a haunting glimmer of a scythe arrived behind the curtain of fate for anything middle of the road, or superfluous in the Metal sphere. It is freedom incarnate in a caged, syphoned off well keeping knowledge under lock.
The text to “DayDreamer” reads “I fly / Up to a /higher plane / The climb / Rope burns to guide the way / I can feel them try / Try and pull me away
There is heartbreak in the ambition of this album. Even as we achieve these tireless goals, and strive for greater, there is a deep understanding in the complexity of the work and the (seemingly expected) rejection of it no matter how confident each note is played. There is an awareness that something this (seemingly) idiosyncratic, will either fall on deaf ears or ones not fit to understand its power and sagacity. Nevertheless, for the ones that do venture into the heavens, it is clear — they will be rewarded immensely.
This is the vigor of the title of this record and each note contained within. It is a wanting for a higher calibre of thought, attention, execution and passion that only arrives sporadically, out of the sky, like a bolt of lightning that hopes to carry with it a wave of forward thinkers and dreamers fighters for artistic freedom. It is an honor to exist in a time of The Yearning and watch it ripple and unfold in real time.
