Yeasayer - Odd Blood

You know how it goes. A band that have been loved by relatively few for a few years take a gamble and ‘polish up’ their sound. Cue recognition. In 2008, it was TV On The Radio; 2009, Animal Collective; and 2010? Well, it’s far too early to say, but Yeasayer certainly are in with a shout. The Brooklyn trio’s debut, 2007’s ‘All Hour Cymbals’ was one of the finest debuts of that year

Two years on, and the hype surrounding the band’s second record had reached a sort of fever pitch. Then, a week later, the first slice of new material was released. ‘Ambling Alp’ marked the group’s return, and it was without a doubt one of the songs of 2009. It’s not often that an album’s lead single turns out to be one of the best tracks on it, but this is definitely the case here. It is quite simply extraordinary, and really helps to get the album going after its opener, the strangely brilliant ‘The Children’. Vocals are obscured by pitch-shifting (á la The Knife), rumbling along over polyrhythms and slightly unsettling melodies. It’s the track on here that’s most like Marmite (as in, you either love or hate it), and it was a truly brave move from the band to kick things off with it - especially so as it is so unlike the rest of the album; a most unexpected curveball.

‘Madder Red’ contains a hook the likes of which all decent songwriters know they can write if they put their minds it, the kind that is there, but is rarely fully realised. And it is certainly the melodies that make this album what it is - a pure pop record, yet one that at the same time sounds weird enough to mark it out as distinctively Yeasayer. However, the relatively straight-ahead tracks, like ‘O.N.E.’ (a safe bet for single status) and emotionally-charged ballad ‘I Remember’ are the best on offer here.

The ‘ace in the pack’, ‘Rome’ is positioned perfectly in the tracklisting, coming after the R&B-tinged ‘Love Me Girl’ (which marks a transition from shamelessy poppy Yeasayer to quirky Yeasayer). One of many tracks driven by percussion, it features a particularly soulful performance from Anand Wilder, and some cutting lyrics: ‘But I know that I’ll drive so/When I deposit your body in the Gulf Coast, darlin’, tomorrow’. Ouch. And this on a record when he veers from lovelorn (‘You’re stuck in my mind all the time’ - ‘I Remember’) to loveless (‘I just thought you should know/You don’t move me anymore’ - ‘O.N.E.’) at the drop of a hat.

Inspired largely by Keating’s relationship troubles, we get the sense that, as has been proved time and time again, trouble breeds creativity - not just in the lyrics department either. There is a sitar solo (yes, really) on ‘Strange Reunions’, a track which is followed by the deliciously funky (and brilliantly-named) ‘Mondegreen’, a title that takes on special significance when you consider that its lyrics deal with rumours of romance: ‘Everybody’s talkin’ ‘bout me and my baby/Making love ‘til the morning light’.

‘Odd Blood’ closes with the dreamy ‘Grizelda’, a track that floats along for three minutes on swelling synths and restrained percussion, and seems to bring a since of closure to the record. For all its flirtations with pop, ‘Odd Blood’ seems to be quite dark all the same, and ‘Grizelda’ works well here - more than a more heavy-handed track would have, at any rate.

So, this could well be Yeasayer’s breakthrough album, and any success they get off the back of this will be richly deserved. The band have pushed themselves, changing direction to produce an absolute triumph of a sophomore record. Who knows where they’ll go next?