Yeasayer: Odd Blood

Yeasayer

Label: Secretly Canadian

If you’re expecting Odd Blood to sound exactly like Yeasayer’s debut, All Hour Cymbals, don’t. In a recent interview, vocalist and guitarist Anand Wilder stated he hoped Odd Blood would appeal to new people, hopefully bringing the band’s current fans along for the ride, challenging their tastes in the process. Achieving that goal shouldn’t be an issue. Odd Blood is a significant stylistic jump from its predecessor, but also a move in a logical direction – towards more accessible melodies and contemporary instrumentation. Fans of Yeasayer’s most hazy moments might initially be turned off by that change, but the worthy result is a collection not only good enough to distance the band from the unjustified critical stigma of being a “diet Animal Collective,” but also should reinforce the band’s eclectic musical breadth for fans and critics alike. Odd Blood still sounds like the same Yeasayer that wrote the dark sentiments of “2080,” but the new genre nods and tastes at play make for an all together more enjoyable listen. Simply, it’s one of this year’s first highlights.

While All Hour Cymbals reveled in a shoegaze wash of dreamy vocals and rock-nuanced Middle-Eastern folk sounds, Odd Blood finds Yeasayer in a more synthetic and edgy place – a fusion of tribal folk and trippy dance a-la-Dirty Projectors, !!! or Gang Gang Dance. Of course, Yeasayer is far from a dance-rock outfit and certainly isn’t shooting for club status, however hipster they may be. And the quartet still giddily lays down swirling themes and almost meditative sonic backdrops. Yet incorporating more artificial sounds – like bassist Ira Wolf Tuton’s whooping filter on single “Ambling Alp” – into its existing sonic paradigm of plush instrumentation and organic world traditions makes for a stunning, if not thrilling listen. Only opener “The Children” and closer “Grizelda” feel out of place among the album’s more rhythmic tracks. However, in the context of Odd Blood as a whole they provide a fitting segue into these new experiments and a circular link back to Yeasayer’s earlier work.

Both Wilder and keyboardist Chris Keating are in top form on Odd Blood, donating jaw-dropping vocal performances to Yeasayer’s already technically adept instrumentals. Playing off the competing characters of the other’s voice — Keating with his bright alto and Wilder with his darker, more nasal chops — both vocalists use contrast to dramatic effect. Their days in a barbershop quartet are apparent at moments like the keening falsetto breakdown at the end of “O. N. E.,” a successful opportunity for abrupt shifts in lyrical structure, making good songs like this memorable. Ultimately, it’s these playful variations and expert execution that improves on both the band’s established style and the various dance sounds Yeasayer appeals to here. It’s a feat to create music that recalls the joyful experimentalism of stylistic-brethren Animal Collective while appealing to pop music’s worldwide universal language, yet Yeasayer does so in a way that feels effortless. Odd Blood is produced with similarly effective care; lush meshes of sound and sharp, clean melodies support all those vocal gymnastics. “Ambling Alp” and “Mondegreen” practically demand to be looped and replayed either on the stereo or in your head, their contagious hooks giving way to more subtle nuggets like the Raging Bull-styled animal noises that amorphously throb throughout the album or the heartbeat bass drum on “Love Me Girl.”

Without heaping too much praise on Yeasayer’s newest offering, it’s safe to say few moments of Odd Blood feel inopportune or wasted, and many tracks shine individually. More so, the three-song set of “I Remember,” “O. N. E.” and “Love Me Girl” single-handedly makes the front-loaded album worth a listen. If Odd Blood pisses off a few diehards, Yeasayer will still have plenty of new fans by the time their next album rolls around. All the naysayers can flock back to Sung Tongs and let the rest of us have a good time.

by Michael Merline