With Anywhere, Yawning Portal turn motion into meaning, crafting an electronic album that treats driving not as a means to an end, but as an emotional state. Though Jess Mai Walker and Joseph Ware hail from South London, their debut feels deeply rooted in the American Midwest, shaped by long, aimless drives through Iowa’s empty roads and fading towns. It’s an unlikely pairing, yet the album captures the quiet romance of movement with striking clarity.
Anywhere unfolds like a continuous journey rather than a collection of songs. Built from ambient, downtempo, and trance, its seamless transitions mirror the way landscapes blur together when you’ve been behind the wheel too long. Tracks bleed into one another without urgency, allowing mood and texture to guide the experience. Walker’s vocals often arrive like passing thoughts—gentle, distant, and emotionally loaded. On “My City,” her whispered refrain of “let’s go out” feels less like a call to nightlife and more like an invitation to escape, to keep moving even when there’s nowhere specific to be.
The album thrives on contrast. Trance-heavy moments like “Magical Girl” surge with momentum, soundtracking imagined backroad sprints, while downtempo cuts such as “Silver Plated” evoke slow coasts through post-industrial spaces. Ambient pieces like “Meridian Drift” and “Light to Light” capture the hypnotic stillness of night driving, when the world narrows to headlights and thought. Even the more pop-leaning “Video” gradually dissolves, transforming urgency into calm as if the drive itself has softened the tension.
At just over an hour, Anywhere occasionally lingers too long in its detours. Some tracks stretch past their most compelling moments, drifting into ambient plateaus that slightly stall the momentum. Yet these imperfections feel intentional, mirroring the reality of long drives where not every mile is exhilarating.
Ultimately, Anywhere understands that the journey matters more than the arrival. It’s an album about drifting, thinking, and feeling—about finding emotional release in constant motion. Like the roads it’s inspired by, it asks you to stay with it, trusting that meaning reveals itself along the way.
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