Brooklyn hipsters Yeasayer came to prominence among the Pitchfork reading crowd with their debut album All Hour Cymbals in 2007. Mixing Prog-rock instrumentation with Afro-beat rhythms and a general sense of doom-mongering, it’s hardly surprising that they didn’t reach a wider audience beyond that, despite high profile tours with the likes of Arcade Fire, MGMT and Bat for Lashes. In fact, after the brilliance of their live-show where the bizarrely dressed and coiffed band bashed at their instruments led by the frenzied preacher act of front-man Chris Keating, the album was something of a disappointment starting on a strong yet gloomy note and gradually getting more cheerful but less interesting as it went on. Now however, they’re touting both a new more clean-cut image and an album that’s received praise from many sources (the notable exception being Pitchfork who feted them in the first place).
From the first track, it’s clear however that Odd Blood is a very different prospect. With vocals that sound like a mournful version of the Apple Mac’s voice-over function, The Children is Odd Blood’s strangest track and it’s gratifying to note that Yeasayer haven’t made an album quite as front-heavy as its predecessor, where all of the more oddball tracks were relegated to the second half. This segues into first single Amblin’ Alp, based around the boxer of the same moniker although a knowledge of his career isn’t at all necessary to appreciate the joyously peppy lyrical content. At this point it becomes clear what’s changed between the band who recorded All Hour Cymbals and this record, while the first album was based around abstract ideas and riddled with fear and doubt, here the band have managed to convey the physicality of their live show on record. Not only is the Odd Blood, with its bouncy synths and beats, much more danceable, but the lyrics are all about physical sensation, this mostly being sex. The Arcade Fire-level anthemic, and possible album highlight, Madder Red is infused with sexual longing, I Remember is a simple and touching recollection of an affair, embellished with a surprisingly dainty piano part, and second single O.N.E. is a perfect break-up track, flipping between nostalgic desperation and a defiantly catchy kiss-off, a sort of electro-indie I Will Survive (without the negative karaoke connotations of that track – yet).
The second half of the album kicks off with Love Me Girl, which lives up to its boyband-esque name with the band coming across as a psychedelic Backstreet Boys – marrying close vocal harmonies, with electronic distortion and a synth-line that sounds like something from Technique-era New Order, it is, in other words, magnificently loopy. Following track Rome’s megalomaniacal lyrics are once again oddly sexual and delivered with an 80’s electro-pop beat and the sort of backing vocal previously only heard on a Gorillaz record.
With all the high-energy retro synthesiser action going on, it’s fairly likely that Yeasayer have taken a bit of influence from former tour-mates MGMT, and it could be said that they are chasing that band’s commercial appeal to an extent. However, despite the similar sound and aesthetic of both bands there is a crucial difference between the two in that while MGMT were fun but superficial and didn’t manage to convince on their more downbeat numbers, there is a sense of sincerity to Odd Blood. When Keating turns on his full preacher mode on penultimate track Mondegreen, what could have been another sex-fuelled filler track – based as it is around the simple chorus of ‘Everybody’s talking about me and my baby, making love in the morning light’ – is infused with a palpable sense of paranoia.
Although not perfect – the gloomy haze of Strange Reunions would probably fit better on their debut and final track Grizelda, a love song to notorious drug lord (or in this case drug lady) Griselda Blanco from the point of view of one of her henchmen, could musically do with a bit more spunk in order to match the lyrical content – Odd Blood does mark an incredible leap forward in quality from the band, and could very well be one of the most purely enjoyable, and definitely one of the most aptly titled albums of 2010.
