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In the new album from the New Yorkers Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the punk fury of their early days gives way to a more intimate and dark record, where Karen O's voice becomes less frenetic but more haunting and somber, and where the group "bares its bones."
Among distorted and sharp guitars, incisive drums, psychedelic digressions, hints of funk mixed with the most violent and carnal rock'n'roll and in the American folk tradition, the album unfolds from a band that had the guts not to replicate their debut, but to evolve their sound by giving free rein to their passion translated into music...
Starting from the beginning, the album opens with “Gold Lion,” a track where they lay bare their rock soul among bursts of acoustic and electric guitar. Then follows “Way Out,” one of the best songs that have come out of the speakers from the 3 of New York where the acoustic and electric elements blend into a homogeneous and powerful mix guided by Karen's lost voice. The baton then passes to the muddy and obsessive "Fancy” and to “Phenomena,” a track where the group's light funk vein is more present… Next are "Honeybear" and "Mysteries," which sound as if Johnny Cash, after a trip to Casablanca, improvised a jam session with the Stooges... From here arise the ballads "Dudley" and "The Sweets," to be listened to in complete solitude in the desert among coyotes and starry skies, suffocated by a scorching heat like their electric finale. With "Warrior," they completely strip their soul and offer their bones to sacrifice to the gods of rock’n’roll, only to be sapped by pain in "Turn Into" the keystone of the album where the stabbing guitar and the acoustic finale express all the loneliness that can be perceived by a human being...
The journey concludes with "Deja Vu" to remind anyone who might still have doubts that their punk and iconoclastic soul has never abandoned them, but lives and feeds within their bodies... A pure and simple example of a TRUE band that vomits all its soul when it picks up a guitar, hits the drums, and copulates with the microphone, spewing from the amplifiers pure rock'n'roll!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Gold Lion (03:07)
Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is,
Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is,
Take our hands out of control,
Take our hands out of control
Now, tell me what you saw,
Tell me what you saw,
There was a crowd of seas,
Inside, outside,
I must have done a dozen each
It was the height I grew, the weight,
The shell was crushing you,
I've been around a few
Tell me what you saw,
I'll tell you what to...
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh
Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is,
Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is,
Take our hands out of control,
Take our hands out of control
Outside, Inside,
This is the moon without a tide,
We'll build a fire in your eyes,
We'll build a fire when the color's getting brighter,
Cold desire, makes the moon without a tide
Tell me what you saw,
I'll tell you what to...
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh
Ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ooh ooh, ohh ohh
03 Fancy (04:24)
I find it in an atlas
Or flipping over old news
Check what's in the trash bag
Well just a little pieu
Well just a little pieu
I beg your pardon, beg your pardon, beg your pardon
Oh-ah!
Blame me for where you are
Tell me what I gotta lose
That's a bit fancy
Well just a little pieu
Well just a little pieu
I beg your pardon, beg your pardon, beg your pardon
Oh-ah!
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
We were overlooked
Like a puzzle book
Dead in the eyes
Dead in the eyes
Watch us from the nooks, ah
We were overlooked
Like a puzzle book
Dead in the eyes
Dead in the eyes
Won't you find the next, ah
Well just another pieu
Well just another pieu
Well just another pieu
I beg your pardon, beg your pardon, beg your pardon
Oh-ah!
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
For three days
We read it
04 Phenomena (04:10)
Hey!
Don't touch kid, sleep with the lights on
Touch kid, how you surprise me
Now roll kid, knock your body off!
You're something like a phenomena
Something like an astronomer
Roll kid, knock your body off!
Something like a phenomena, baby
Something like a phenomena
Something like a phenomena, babe
Gonna get your body off
Don't fall asleep with the motor running
She'll make you sweat in the water
Don't fall asleep with the motor running
She'll make you sweat in the water
Hot time kid
Hot time kid
It's cold under the blanket
They loved it
Then shot it
The fastest went and got it
That stole it with ease ma
They hide it up the sleeves, ma
They hide it
They hide it
They're never gonna find it
Don't fall asleep with the motor running
She'll make you sweat in the water
Don't fall asleep with the motor running
She'll make you sweat in the water
Something like a phenomena, baby
Something like a phenomena
Something like a phenomena, baby
Gonna get your body off
Something like a phenomena, baby
Something like a phenomena
Something like a phenomena, baby
Gonna get your body off
Hot time kid
Hot time kid
It's cold under the blanket
Hot time kid
Hot time kid
It's cold under the blanket
05 Honeybear (02:25)
Turn yourself around, you weren't invited
Turn yourself around, you weren't invited
Good good things happen in bad towns
good good things happen in bad towns
Runaway, runaway you want it
Runaway, runaway you want it
Runaway, anyway you want it
Runaway, runaway you want it
What, what did you do to your back hips
Soft ones, curled lips can’t get ‘em back
Junk jump off too much time for
Old beats, cold beats, I’m just cold meat
Runaway, runaway you want it
Runaway, runaway you want it
Runaway anyway you want it
Runaway, runaway you want it
Gone all alone
I’ve got a call from the bear
Gonna take all his honey honey
Gone, all alone
I’ve got a call from the bear
Gonna take all its honey honey
Gone, all alone
I’ve got a call from the bear
Gonna take all his honey honey
Gone, all alone
I’ve got a call from the bear
Gonna take all his honey honey
Runaway, runaway you want it
Runaway, runaway you want it
Runaway anyway you want it
Runaway, runaway you want it
What, what, what ,what
07 Dudley (03:41)
Hot cold season gonna sink in my sweat
No one isn't ever gonna make it there yet
If you can't even cope with it
Then you'll pass me by
You'll take it over
And make it mine
Fast slow living is a holding me back
Wishing that my baby never told me that
I can't even cope to make it last
Then you'll pass me by
You'll take it over
And make it mine
Then you want it a want it a want it again
Then you want it a want it a want it again
Then you want it a want it a want it again
Then you want it a want it a want it again
My dear, you've been used
I'm breaking the news
Love nearly beat us
I'm thinking like you
I'm thinking of you
Love follows near us
Can love really steer us?
Oh can it be true?
Oh can it be true?
Lost all reason after playing your game
Better quit staring cause your looking the same
I can't even cope to make a change
Then you'll pass me by
You'll take it over
And make it mine
Use me up,
Use me up,
Taper off and I'm had
10 Warrior (03:42)
When it's missing then you want it more
It isn't right
Turning turning out the door
And back to this
Leave it like it was before
And let me out
Must've been the end of the story
Giving it all
Giving it all away
You're going to wake up someone
Study it all
The wings, the crowd, your face
You're going to end up like one
Trouble at home
Travel the way you say
The road don't like me
Travel the way
Travel it all the way
The road's going to end on me
Men, they like me
'Cause I'm a warrior
A warrior
Stand on my feet
Dance the warrior
The warrior
Where would I be?
I'd be a warrior
A warrior
Now the strangers have caught on
And they're riding in the back seat
The rivers going to wash all
Yeah, the river it spoke to me
It told me I'm small
And I swallowed it down
If I make it at all
I'll make you want me
Trouble at home
Travel the way you say
The road don't like me
Travel it all
Travel it all the way
The road's going to get on me
And I'm small
The road's going to get on me
If it gets it at all
The road's going to end on me
Like a warrior
A warrior
Dance the warrior
The warrior
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Other reviews
By Adil
"Show Your Bones is what happens when you stick your fingers into the power socket."
Gold Lion represents a peak that soon turns into the edge of an abyss.
By Waldo
Show Your Bones reconfirms them as one of the most vibrant and interesting acts coming from the Big Apple.
The album concludes with a great ballad, a worthy finale that raises the album’s rating by at least a star.
By CRAVESTMAN
From the very first listen, it fills your mind with strong sensations and moves you like never before.
Karen proves she is not just a stage beast as we've known her, but also an artist who can express her emotions in a more calm manner.
