album review : yeasayer, odd blood

(Secretly Canadian, 2010)

Following live appearances with MGMT and Beck, Canadian arty, falsetto-voices- echoes-and-cymbals in a blender trio, Yeasayer, have released their second album, Odd Blood. Having read the odd article here and there, I was both intrigued and wary of a band that might be too painfully hip for their own good. Did you know they performed an a capella public show on the Paris Metro? Well, that’s how they roll. But Odd Blood is much more pop-friendly than I’d anticipated, and you may recognise Chris Keating’s vocals from Simian Mobile’s hit of 2009, “Audacity of Huge”.

If I didn’t know they were Brooklynites, I could easily believe they were neighbours of Jens Lekman and Peter, Bjorn and John. There’s that artful naivety to their lyrics and delivery with a boppy, electro-pop beat that also recalls Robyn and The Knife.

What Odd Blood sounds like to me, is a loving tribute to pop music that is heavily laced with as many world-music and oddball instruments and effects as could feasibly be stirred in.

More radio- and sing-along friendly than debut, All Hour Cymbals (2007), Odd Blood is sweetly addictive and, faced with over 100 albums when I jump on the train, it is my new default choice. Plus, it’s all killer, no filler. I don’t skip a single track. I’m not usually one for quoting lyrics, I know it’s cheesy, but I think you’ll forgive me for falling just a little bit in love with Chris Keating when you hear Mondegreen’s closing verse:

Be my sunshine when the dark clouds rumble
and together we can try to avoid trouble
and we’ll run to somewhere where the grass grows greener
and the water’s clearer
and our blood flows cleaner.

Check Yeasayer out on MySpace here.

By Catherine Woods