In the year leading up to this album’s release, guitarist Gary Arce kept himself more than busy. With the other members of Yawning Man, he released a third album of improvised material with Yawning Balch, two albums of fantastic material under the name SoftSun with Superlynx’s Pia Isaaksen, and also worked with Big Scenic Nowhere, a doomy stoner band which also featured Yawning Man’s Bill Stinson and Fu Manchu/Yawning Balch guitarist Bob Balch.

Regardless of his many activities, for most, it’ll be his associations with desert rock band Yawning Man that spring to mind first, despite their output being rather sporadic. The band’s eighth studio record ‘Pavement Ends’ finds Arce in great musical form, and following 2023’s ‘Long Walk of The Navajo’ takes a welcome step back towards shorter and more accessible arrangements.

‘Burrito Power’ gets everything underway with drummer Bill Stinson powering some heavy toms beneath a doom laden riff. The repetitive nature of the music sets a classic deep psych mood in place, but the heavy edge sets this apart from some of the more recent Yawning Balch jams. Eventually breaking from the main riff, a slightly more spacious groove allows for echoing guitar lines to bristle against a heavy bass, before the sequence repeats. On the second outing for the more spacious riff, Arce’s guitar sounds fuller, allowing for a natural passage into a middle eight where a little more expressive lead work takes centre stage, without drawing too much attention away from the heavy edge. Clocking in at under five minutes, this doesn’t outstay its welcome, despite setting a groove in place that could potentially stretch a little further.

With a bigger concession to deep psych, ‘Gestapo Pop’ is much stronger. Scaling back the semi-doomy tones, Mario Lalli’s bass takes centre stage. He does a sterling job alongside Bill Stinson in laying down a slow groove, and this gives Arce the perfect backdrop to drop in some semi-distorted tones. Sharing a repetitive riff, his guitar work is almost cinematic sounding; even when changing key, he clings onto a mellow vibe that’s just fantastic, and even once the track begins to present a more forceful sound, the lead tones remain atmospheric. More than anything else on this disc, this could’ve formed the heart of one of Yawning Balch’s longer jams. It’s certainly one of this record’s more immediate offerings, but in time, it could also become one of Yawning Man’s most revered tracks.

Sliding back into something a little darker, ‘Bomba Negra’ makes a great feature of lead bass, with Lalli working an interesting melody beneath a wall of guitars – in keeping with Yawning Balch, these are dominated by reverbed sounds – whilst Stinson keeps a steady beat. This finds the trio taking their desert rock heart and melding it into something a little more amenable to the prog audience, without losing sight of their roots. From a melodic perspective, it’s a little slow; it definitely takes a few plays before the haunting tune even begins to stick. However, there’s a strange power within the musicianship that ultimately sells the slowburn, and with Arce dropping in some terrific lead sounds during the second half of a well arranged five minutes, it offers long time fans something they’ll eventually take to heart.

By opening with solo bass and a raft of distortion, ‘Dust Suppression’ makes no secret of its stoner roots, but in true YB fashion, instead of dropping into some cut-price Sabbath-isms, Mario’s flawless basslines are used as the basis for some superb desert rock. Latching onto a mid tempo groove, the trio offer some great, semi-heavy melodies throughout the number, but despite a superb bass, Arce’s guitar quickly becomes the most appealing feature, as he drops cold, shimmering melodies against the groove. Another callback to the Yawning Balch jams, the neo-psychedelic echoes work brilliantly throughout. In the hands of others, the melodies here could’ve succumbed to a temptation to add an extra heaviness; in classic Yawning Man tradition, things remain wonderfully trippy, creating this album’s other highlight alongside ‘Gestapo Pop’.

For those hoping Yawning Man will eventually stretch out, their wishes are granted on “side two” of the record, with two longer jams that really show off the band’s natural style. In many ways, the echoing guitar and mid tempo approach that fills the title cut feels like Yawning Man in typical mode. However, fans keeping a closer ear will still find plenty to enjoy: there’s another superb bassline from Lalli, which comes peppered with strange, warbling fills; a solid rhythm from Stinson bringing a natural power to an otherwise flowing quality, and Arce latching onto a world of soaring guitar lines, almost as if drifting in from another room. Above all, no matter how familiar this might feel, it shares a truckload of trippy melodies that are of the absolutely classic “desert mould”. By the time the jam reaches its peak, it becomes obvious that this – despite sounding like Yawning Man adorned with a musical comfort blanket – is the album’s crowning glory.

A little quieter at first, the intro of ‘Bad Time To Be Alive’ has a hint of influence from Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop – likely not deliberately – before branching out into a mellow desert rocker that gives Arce an opportunity to share some very cool ringing tones. After the title cut, his playing feels a little more pedestrian here, but that doesn’t make this track dull in any way; it just allows the rhythm section more room to work their groove. Many of the musical highlights during these seven minutes come from a semi-complex, rather bendy bass, putting in some hard yards to ensure this desert ramble remains cool and interesting, even if it’s another workout that’ll feel instantly familiar to the longtime fan. With plenty of interplay between the three men, but especially between the guitar and bass, this weaves a tune that builds gradually, yet never reaches a full blown intensity. In many ways, this snapshot of Yawning Man working a familiar sound is the perfect way to bow out.

With the presence of shorter pieces, this is definitely more user friendly than ‘Long Walk of The Navajo’; it’s also heavier than 2019’s ‘Macedonian Lines’ in a couple of places. There are – understandably – a few influences from Yawning Balch creeping in, but the bulk of ‘Pavement Ends’ plays like a solid Yawning Man collection, with plenty of familiar traits, yet without the music sounding at all stuck in a rut. It’s definitely a fine addition to the Yawning Man catalogue, showing no sign of Gary Arce sounding overworked. It’s fair to say that long time fans will love most of the material from the off, but also find the slower moments really clicking over time.

November 2025