Yammerer - 'Boa Constrictor'


Frantic, frenetic and ferocious, Liverpool five-piece Yammerer are impossible to pigeon-hole, let alone cage.

Lazy comparisons might see the quintet compared to the likes of The Fall, or perhaps even Idles, though while there are similarities, especially as far as the former are concerned, there’s a sense of something unhinged at the core of Yammerer that not even Mark E Smith could channel, no matter how many tantrums he threw. 

Their latest single, ‘Boa Constrictor’ is much the same, two minutes of blistering post-punk that clatters and careers its way towards a cacophonous conclusion. Indeed, though starting out much like one might expect a stereotypical post-punk track to begin (rolling percussion and a chunky backbone of a bassline), the introduction of seemingly competing guitars provide the track with a paranoid intensity that’s only exacerbated by vocalist Jay Sunsea’s deranged delivery. 

Though his early pitch might well bring to mind the likes of Fontaines DC, The Murder Capital, or any other current post-punk band, Sunsea wastes little time in establishing himself as a different beast entirely. Yelps, grunts, growls and shrieks, there’s little off limits, the vocal pitch as erratic as the abrasive and angular guitars which in turn punctuate the track’s rolling bassline, itself arguably the only source of any predictability within the record.

 And therein lies the appeal of Yammerer; a primal unpredictability; a rampant disregard for convention (or at least a predisposition towards subverting it), and the ability stand head and shoulders above their contemporaries. A blistering return for the Liverpool band. 

Words of Dave Beech