Yesness released Nice Walrus, the propulsive second single lifted from the band’s debut LP ‘See You at the Solipsist Convention’. Headed by Kristian Dunn (El Ten Eleven) and Damon Che (Don Caballero), the post-rock project’s full album will be out November 22nd, via Joyful Noise Recordings.
Nice Walrus, a string-studded panorama featuring Joyful Noise labelmate Kishi Bashi, volleys between nervy hyperactivity and heartfelt grandeur. “I could really hear strings on this one so I wrote out a simple arrangement and then asked Kishi Bashi if he could lay down some real deal bowing,” Kristian Dunn says. “He exceeded our expectations and just crushed it!”
“When this title was introduced I reminded personnel not to pay similar compliments to beavers,” jokes Damon Che of the song’s name. “I was going for original wave shoegazer in the chorus. Kishi Bashi strings are piping hot good,” he adds.
You can also listen to the album’s lead single Not So Sorry Now Are You? which received coverage from Stereogum, Our Culture, Noise Mag and many more.
Catch Yesness on their first-ever tour across the Western United States this winter! See below for details.
TOUR DATES
January 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
January 23 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
January 25 – Sacramento, CA @ Goldfield
January 26 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
January 30 – Bend, OR @ Domino Room
January 31 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
February 1 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
February 2 – Spokane, WA @ The District Bar
February 4 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Social Club
February 6 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby
February 7 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
February 8 – Colorado Springs, CO @ Lulu’s
More about ‘See You at the Solipsist Convention’
Even as the obstacles to meaningful connection mount into an Everest-ian hurdle, artists nevertheless find ways to bend the technologies of our days to foster visceral human connection, rather than bereft isolation. Comprised of a West Coast bassist (Kristian Dunn of El Ten Eleven) and an Appalachia-adjacent drummer (Damon Che of Don Caballero), Yesness forges a friendship mediated through the language of collaboration, all formed through emailed song sketches and text exchanges of Van Halen demos.
The odd couple of Kristian Dunn (El Ten Eleven) and Damon Che (Don Caballero) was the result of some clever musical matchmaking by Karl Hofstetter, founder and curator of Joyful Noise Recordings. Karl introduced Dunn and Che via email in April 2023 after Dunn’s prolific output outgrew the resources and abilities of his instrumental duo El Ten Eleven. Less than a year later, after countless text messages and song sketches were exchanged, and one fateful meeting at a recording studio was organized, their nascent project’s debut record, ‘See You at the Solipsist Convention,’ was complete.
“We were ships in the night of the musical variety until Karl found a way to merge our paths,” Che said of his introduction to Dunn. “There are very few comparisons in the aesthetic approach to how we created the music. We worked remotely for eight months before physically meeting for the first time at the recording studio.”
Neck-deep in their own ambitions, Che and Dunn swapped musical ideas and quirky song titles throughout the summer, working at a breakneck pace. Star Wars references were intertwined with walloping bass lines (If You Say So); non-sequiturs were punctuated by Che’s signature frenetic percussive jabs (Horror Snuggle). Scaffolded around eight-string bass, knotty percussion, and intricate syncopation, ‘See You at the Solipsist Convention’ is a carnival of delights for fans of the post-everything persuasion—uncategorizable yet reverent to the altar of instrumental rock.
Tearing through the record’s evocative instrumentals is a delightful bolt of strangeness, felt as much as heard in the spontaneous chemistry between Che and Dunn. Occasional Grape? dances like a waltz played with a sledgehammer—delicate moments shattered by bursts of aggression, while still embedding a rhythmic earworm deep into your heart. Nice Walrus, a string-studded panorama featuring Kishi Bashi, volleys between nervy hyperactivity and heartfelt grandeur. The album’s closing track, Non-incredible Visitor, contrasts Che’s meticulous precision with Dunn’s imaginative instrumentation, bonding bass and percussion like nesting dolls. Just as the track seems to settle, it drives off an uncharted auditory cliff—abruptly, without ceremony, leaving the listener grasping for meaning in the murk.
Beyond all measure, Yesness stands as a testament to the powerful dividends of friendship and collaboration. We are nothing without each other – our partners, our local record store clerks, our neighbors. Music, too, thrives on our entanglements. With twelve tracks, an upcoming tour, and an unexpected friendship stemming from one email, Yesness underscores the brilliant machinery of human connection.
‘See You at the Solipsist Convention’ track listing
1. Not So Sorry Now Are You?
2. Occasional Grape?
3. Nice Walrus
4. If You Say So
5. People Don’t Like It When You Call Them Ace
6. Fire, When It’s Broken
7. Your Reverb Is Showing
8. Horror Snuggle
9. You Didn’t Need Those Pencils Did You?
10. There’s No One on Board
11. See Through Wolf Costume
12. Non-incredible Visitor
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