KeyCMND.com: Yeasayer
Published by: KeyCMND.com
Date: February 2, 2010
Format: Web (www.keycmnd.com)
Type: Music Review
Yeasayer – Odd Blood
Odd Blood isn’t a reinvention. It’s not as much like Dylan finding God as like him finding the electric guitar. The (now) trio from Brooklyn traded in its tribal beats, vocal ensembles, and world-indie cross-genre for electronic pop-leaning songs produced meticulously with almost all synthetic sounds.
The record begins with “The Children,” a slow, haunting song that sets Odd Blood in a bold way. The track features a few eerie chord progressions, layer upon layer of sonic texture, monster-ish vocals shifted an octave down, and a smooth saxophone that brings everything together; telling the listener in effect that this will be altogether different from their debut, All Hour Cymbals.
The album’s second track and first single, “Ambling Alp,” is really where Yeasayer’s new approach is on display. Though, it isn’t necessarily a new song, as the band has been playing it live as far back as 2008, but this is the first time “Ambling Alp” has been recorded. The drums here are mostly synthesized, the bass is huge, the melodies are all synthesizers, there is no audible guitar, and singer Chris Keating’s voice is maxed to the tens on feel-good vibes.
At times, Odd Blood gets lively enough to rival anything inside today’s clubs (“O.N.E.” and “Rome”), poppy enough to garner radio play (“Ambling Alp” and “Madder Red”), and romantic enough to be featured in movie or television scenes (“I Remember” and “Love Me Girl”); the ones with the main characters getting back together and embracing in the pouring rain.
“Grizelda” is a fitting end cap for the previous nine songs. The vibe, like that of the album’s opener, is a little more reserved here. The dance beats are gone, but where “The Children” is like an invitation into the imminent party, “Grizelda” offers reflection and closure for everything that has just happened.
There already has been, and probably will be more, criticism for what people will call the band’s “reinvention,” but bands that release the same record over and over are easily forgotten. It’s the bands that are always moving and changing—doing so with high levels of skill and precision—that will keep our attention for a much longer time.
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