Listening to yeasayer for the first time is rather like the first time you heard the odd-ball electronic of Fuck buttons. Opening track “the children” is a work of twisted genius that wouldn’t be out of place on Aphex Twin’s ‘Come to daddy’ EP, although it features a glorious melody hidden under the swathes of distortion and the bizarre percussion. It’s a great opener that grabs the attention from the off, and the album holds it until the end through a series of inventive, melodious tracks that constantly surprise. “Ambling alp” combines Depeche Mode with the creepy sounds of ‘Fragile’-era NIN, “madder red” continues the Depeche Mode comparisons, bringing to mind tracks such as ‘shake the disease’ and in a good way.
“I remember” is insanely retro, opening with the sound of every Commodore 64 (yes I am that old) computer game ever made all rolled into one and topped with a high-pitch vocal that proves that Chris Keating can really sing. Moving away with the day-glo introspection of “I remember”, “O.N.E” brings the insanely danceable bass beats back in, and you can imagine this being a good choice of single as it draws together the crazier elements of the first four tracks and channel it into one brief burst of pure pop genius. “Love me girl” is awash with synth, hard enough to get play in a club, but interesting enough to keep the indie kids enthralled, with a melody that actually recalls early Blur (before they discovered music hall and Pavement) such as ‘Sing’, before the track takes a thoroughly unexpected step left into Depeche Mode covering Timberlake… It has to be heard for it to make sense, but it works. “Rome” is powered by some truly mental sound effects and is a personal favourite with its early Cure melody and cheesy sound effects whirling about in the background. “Strange reunions” lives up to its title with a deranged time signature sending the whole track spiralling off-kilter into a weird psychedelic world of its own. Just don’t try dancing to it, you’ll probably break a hip!
“Mondegreen” manages to capture the sound of Aphex Twin covering the Chemical brothers, with cut up vocals, hefty beats and the sound of someone slowly losing their mind in a disco, drowned in paranoia. Final track “Grizelda” somehow incorporates folk music and techno to startling effect and the album leaves you with the impression that you’ve just witnessed the aural equivalent of a firebomb in a glitter factory – underlying tension hidden by the bright colours.
Yeasayer are genuinely out there. There are so many influences fighting for attention amidst the cluttered mix that its hard to put your finger on exactly what you’re listening to half the time. Despite this, the band have a pop nous that’s enabled them to assemble the whole thing in such a way as to sound coherent, which is a massive achievement in itself. This is recommended to anyone with a taste in the bizarre, mischievous world of electronica – think Aphex Twin let loose in a techno club with a whole host of instrumentalists backing him up or the last fuck buttons album and you’ve got a rough idea of what you’re going to get. Check it out and you won’t regret it.
