“The truth is, it hasn’t and they are still just as enchanting if not more so. YEAH, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.”
“The truth is, it hasn’t and they are still just as enchanting if not more so. YEAH, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones (Polydor)
I have to say that I never expected the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to evolve as they have. This rock-riff-raff trio from New York City burst on the scene, riding the wave of The Strokes and messily borrowed sounds from the likes of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Siouxsie and The Banshees. For their newest release the Yeah Yeah Yeahs offer up ‘spick and span’ guitar driven rock n’roll. And it is in fact surprisingly first-class.
I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised. At the time, (when they first hit, like what 4 years at least now…) I never thought that much about them, seeing as I was completely overwhelmed with the riches of the new rock movement. I recognized that they had a lot of character, but wasbeing able to progress on the menu? I wasn’t sure. On Show Your Bones, they work with producer Squeak E. Clean (his repertoire includes hip-hop & R&B, also he and Karen O recorded a song for an Adidas commercial about a year ago that was a success, http://www.squeakeclean.com/, and he produced her solo album which has yet to be released.) The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have cleaned up their sound, bringing a more dynamic and more vibrant overall package. The album opens with Gold Lion, which has become my official summer theme song. Way Out is a bit of a downer in the line up straight off, but Fancy brings it right back up and Honeybear will just rock your socks off.
Karen O has such a delightful, childlike quality to her voice. Lyrically the songs are simple and truthful and easy to sing along. She might as well be singing nursery rhymes; in fact Dudley bears a haunting resemblance to Hush Little Baby, (Mama’s going buy you a Mockingbird, and if that Mockingbird don’t sing, Mama’s going buy you a diamond ring,” and so on). The songs work, they are catchy and musically magnetic. Mysteries is a typical old school Yeah Yeah Yeahs song, if you will give due attention to its messy rocky and slightly jazzy swagger. Warrior also is great. But then comes Turn Into, a fantastically spiritual track in every possible way, it has up lifting surf-y jangly guitars, big beat drums and get this… there is even a thermion solo! Whoa! I know. There is even a little outro with an acoustic jam ending with a giggle.
This album is spick and span as I said, tight, neat, tidy, and well produced. I was afraid all the unruly charm of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs might be swallowed up the vortex of high tech recording and studios with equipment that works. The truth is, it hasn’t and they are still just as enchanting if not more so. YEAH, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Buy this album if you haven’t already.
Words: Zoe E. Gottehrer