Premiere: The Morning Yells, ‘Half Speak’

Kevin Bronson on August 9th, 2018

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The Morning Yells (Photo by Greer Bratschie)

Ever since their origins as a family band playing folk music and classic rock in their native Michigan, the Morning Yells have been growing — sonically, geographically and in numbers.

Now based in L.A., the band consists of singing siblings Phil and Laura Stancil (guitar and bass, respectively), guitarist Trevor Smith and drummer Curran McDowell, with keyboardist/guitarist Jacob Boll having joined the band after it released its 2017 EP, “Proper Wilted.” That release found the Morning Yells dwelling in the Americana-blues of the 1960s and ’70s — a good and natural starting point for a band, Phil Stancil says, that “grew up playing roots-rock and folk music … Our Dad taught us how to play guitar and sing, and we fell in love with the Beach Boys, America and The Moody Blues by digging through his record collection.”

Their next step is to super-size their sound while maintaining their plainspoken Heartland charm, and their new single “Half Speak” is exemplary. It’s a mid-tempo confession teetering between hope and regret, with lush, cascading keys, a tasteful guitar solo and, of course, the harmonies that in certain sibling bands feel like a birthright.

Stancil says the song has been a touchstone of the work the Morning Yells have been doing at Boulevard Studios with producer/engineer Clay Blair. “It’s marked a subtle change in our sound from the folk-rock influences on ‘Proper Wilted’ to a more developed and bigger sound,” he says. “With Clay we were able to mess around with some processes that were new to us as well. He used an old George Martin trick of tracking the drums at a faster BPM and slowing down the tape to the correct BPM, which creates some cool tonal space, and also justifies people mistaking the song as ‘Half Speed’ at our live shows.”

||| Stream: “Half Speak”