Yeasayer’s Odd Blood cover may be the most hideous thing I’ve seen since Tubgirl, but there couldn’t be a better visual complement to this group’s sound. Yeasayer, a Brooklyn band with a Baltimore sound, has toured with MGMT and earned praise from indie tastemakers like Pitchfork. While Odd Blood’s cover mashes together a statue, a photograph, and what looks to be a Windows 95 screen-saver, the album is a hodgepodge of Architecture in Helsinki, Animal Collective, and M.I.A.
Odd Blood was recorded with help from Peter Gabriel’s drummer, Jerry Marotta, and his influence on the album is pervasive. The sound is a change from the group’s 2007 debut All Hour Cymbals; while the instrumentation on Yeasayer’s last album included sitars and the like, the polyrhythmic soundscapes on Odd Blood are built with Marotta’s collection of vintage synthesizers and percussion instruments. Guitar lines are few and far between, solidifying the group’s status as an experimental rock band.
But there’s still plenty of Yeasayer’s mainstream pop sensibility underneath all of the busy noisemaking. Drum pads and vocals on “Madder Red” evoke 80s prog-rock, ditto for a Justin Timberlake falsetto on “O.N.E.” These tracks, along with “Ambling Alp,” have great moments, quirky and energetic enough to distract from the dizzying beats and loops overflowing from every track.
As Odd Blood passes its halfway mark, the album drags. The songs’ changing beats and synth lines become more repetitive and more irritating. More immediately noticeable and pervasive is the group’s condemnable lack of songwriting strength. Like All Hour Cymbals, the lyrics on Odd Blood are neither memorable nor substantial. Yeasayer has a flare for keeping the listener interested during their verses, but beware: if you listen too closely or for too long, you may get a headache. Proceed with caution.
Voice’s Choices: “Madder Red,” “O.N.E.,” “Ambling Alps”
