Yardan “Buzzin’ Fly” (SINGLE)

There aren’t many string instruments that can contribute the sweet tone a mandolin does no matter what the backdrop happens to be, and while it serves a rather indulgent purpose in the new single “Buzzin’ Fly” from Yardan, Andrew Hendryx’s play is by far one of the most compelling elements of the song. There’s nothing conservatively fashioned in Hendryx’s presentation of the bittersweet mandolin melody in this cover of Tim Buckley, and when coupled with Yardan’s dynamic lead vocal, the combination sounds like it was tailor-made for tastes of a 2022 desperate for smart, searing music from the heart of Americana.

WEBSITE: https://www.yardanmusic.com/

This is definitively folky material, no question about it, but there’s a certain component of this track that feels rather brilliantly accessible to fans of country music who fear that the establishment in Nashville is too corrupted by pop and alternative music to be considered relevant anymore. Indeed, under Yardan’s direction, all of the pastoral cues are all the stronger, which is something I have not been able to say about the majority of country and country-leaning folk recordings I’ve listened to in 2022 thus far. This is a player committed to the peaceful, atmospheric subtext in the Americana aesthetic, which is quite honestly appealing to most of us who enjoy good acoustic music.

The chemistry between all of the featured players here and the man of the hour himself is amazing, and I appreciate that Yardan didn’t try to bridge any gaps with a synthetic filler ultimately unbecoming of the artistic narrative he’s looking to construct with “Buzzin’ Fly.” I think it’s more than possible to establish yourself through music someone else wrote, and those who would be quick to disagree with me obviously haven’t had the chance to sit down with songs like this one in recent years.

I really love the interplay between the fiddle and the piano in this arrangement, especially with regards to how they heat up the mood of the music closer to the end of the song. All at once, the romanticism of the rhythm section becomes a bed atop which the lustiness of the melodicism can sprawl out, and while it’s not the most common way of getting a big reaction out of listeners in a track of this kind, this could be why I’m feeling like Yardan is onto something special and unique with what he’s got recorded here.

For this being his first single, Yardan sounds very comfortable in his own skin for “Buzzin’ Fly,” and I sincerely hope I get to hear him play more material like this in the certain future. He’s got the right cast of characters around him to accomplish some beautiful and brooding things in this genre, and while there’s no denying his control of the spotlight from beginning to end in this track, I think he’s got such a profound attitude when it comes to collaboration that we don’t have to worry about his music becoming insular. If anything, this is going to spread like wildfire.

Mark Druery