Rock • The
new Yeah Yeah Yeah’s album “Show
Your Bones” was released March 28.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
YYY’s ‘Show
your bones’ album an edgy, mature
punk sound
By Angela O’Brien
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
It’s been three years since Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2003 sleeper-hit album “Fever
to Tell” dropped into indie hipster laps worldwide. The New York trio
finally delivered its highly anticipated debut follow-up “Show Your Bones” late
last month.
The subject matter and strengths in “Show Your Bones” are the opposite
of “Fever to Tell.” However, it illustrates the ever-so developing
depth and growth from the trio’s smash 2004 single “Maps.” Yeah
Yeah Yeahs are no longer the grungy-punk garage band it once was when it hit
the underground music scene with its debut.
In 2004, Karen O. recorded “Hello Tomorrow” with Squeak E. Clean
to soundtrack last year’s Adidas commercial directed by Spike Jonze.
The song was barely a teasing glimpse into the newly found mystery and soul
within Karen O.’s vocals.
Karen O. did not stray too far from Squeak E. Clean after the Adidas collaboration.
He joined her yet again along with the rest of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, guitarist Nick
Zinner and drummer Brian Chase, to record their sophomore release “Show
Your Bones.”
The new album’s edgy, distorted guitar riffs and heavy drumbeats remain
the same, however vocalist Karen O. evolved to more graceful melodies without
ditching her signature punk flair.
The album begins with the perfect first single “Gold Lion,” which
has been in heavy rotation on Indie 103.1 and KROQ since mid February. Much
like “Maps,” Karen O. soulfully croons her way through the track
guiding the listener through a tangled mystery of deception and strength.
She doesn’t stray far from her anguished, conflictive “Fever to
Tell” roots. Tracks 2 and 3 on “Show Your Bones” possess
the angst and frustration that brought Yeah Yeah Yeahs into the limelight in
2003.
Track 3, “Fancy,” begins with heavy power chords and the agony
of deep backbeats. Karen O.’s distorted voice and reverberating synthesizers
add to the chemistry of torment and overcoming weakness.
Coping with the torture of heartbreak plays a major theme within “Show
Your Bones.” In Track 8, “Mysteries,” Karen O. wails, “I
don’t even know who I like less, you or me, ooooh.” And the following
song, “The Sweets,” sounds very similar to the elusive resonance
of Adidas “Hello Tomorrow.” Zinner and Chase create an mystifying
backdrop for Karen O.’s complacent vocals to elevate throughout the song.
As cheesy as it may sound, “Turn Into,” the final song on the album,
completed the misfortune in love theme into a healthy learning experience (“Can’t
say why I kept this from you / My those quiet eyes become you / Leave it where
it can’t remind us / Turn this all around behind us”).
“
Show Your Bones” is a marvelous follow-up album for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The trio definitely does not need to worry about falling into the disappointing
sophomore slump category many rock artists are victim to.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs will be playing the second day of Coachella in Indio, Calif.
April 30, before heading out to tour the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe
starting mid-May.
|
