Yeasayer
Odd Blood

It's not that it's a bad album. It's just that it c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y t-h-r-e-w me off. Let me start by saying: I love Yeasayer. Personally, All Hour Cymbals was one of the most interesting releases of 2007. Let's say that this time the four guys from Brooklyn decided to surprise just about everyone (everyone who was pleasantly captivated by their debut album). 

The reaction upon first listen was first doubtful (is it really them?), then disgusted (oh my, so much '80s sound, so many beats, more noises than sounds). Finally, by the third or fourth listen, curiosity overtook disappointment, and the first impressions began to emerge.

Is it? Isn't it? The sound has changed, quite a bit. If All Hour Cymbals combined gospel, '80s atmospheres, and a touch of progressive thanks to the guitar and the appearance of one of the group members, Odd Blood seems like a form of final optimization. All Hour Cymbals was a blender, but a blender with the lid closed. Without leaks, raw as only a debut album can be, but not without intensity. In fact, it was extraordinarily energetic (the track 2080, especially) and "exotic" like an old psychedelic '70s record. With this second album, we've moved from a blender to a well-reduced and dry sauce (okay, enough with the risky comparisons).

For starters, the guitar. Where did the guitar go? Where did the gospel incursions go? It seems only the singer remains, and all the other band members have decided to exchange instruments. The sound is much more compact, the song format is present in all the tracks. A decided pop turn. Nothing negative, it seems made with a lot of experience. Yet I can't help but feel somewhat bitter. The most accurate description was given by Umoris (LastFm): «A couple of songs strike hard in the mind, but in the way radio hits do...not with the completeness of the first album […] With the expectations I had, this latest album can only be disappointing. I don't know why, maybe it's just too pop and winks at an '80s sound that's a bit overdone? Or is it simply that the aura of "indefinable" has disappeared?».

Exactly this, the indefinable. It sounds like an album without magic. Psycopompe, reviewing All Hour Cymbals, spoke of a "multicentricity without balance," a result that was frayed and pretentious ("having one's foot in too many shoes"). Yet precisely there lay their strength. The first album was in no way pandering, there was no confusion, but a healthy scattering, a personal background reshaped and presented with originality. Are we facing the second album syndrome? I don't think so. The first was a widely passed test.

Odd Blood is not unpleasant. It betrays expectations but doesn't leave one disappointed, just somewhat bitter. «The track is nice - comments Umoris about Madder Red - the intro with acoustic guitar is great, the chorus is fun and stays in your head (with the cunning silent choir), there's a good rhythmic idea underneath, but... damn it! It's plastic!». With this latest album, Yeasayer confirm themselves as alert, energetic, and uninspired. Real charmers. But I discover that perhaps, in the end, we have different tastes. (waiting for the third?).