Review: Yeasayer – ‘Odd Blood’


Glorious, joyous and frivolous are just three simple words I can think of to describe, what some critics are calling, the perfect pop album. Topic of discussion is the wonderful ‘Odd Blood’ by Yeasayer. Think back to those awkward moments when you were a teenager and life was just full of idiosyncrasies. It was a dream world of discovery at times and for me, ‘Odd Blood’ would have been the perfect soundtrack to my adolescent days capturing an innocence and a magical sense of well-being assuring that  ‘everything is gonna be ok’.

Yeasayer

 

Yeasayer start your journey with a curve ball of a track. ‘The Children’s distorted vocals with underlaying industrial beats are actually kind of dark in places. Confused? Well I was, when the album started but I do think it’s intentional and leads us beautifully into the (words can’t describe how great this song is) ‘Ambling Alp’. Those opening bars leave me warm and smiling but this album only gets better.

‘Madder Red’ has its driving rhythm section and wonderful harmonies all wrapped nicely in a ball of ‘John Hughes’ influenced pop. Heavy hearts and lost opportunities seem to be the chosen subject and done so with no irony whatsoever.  ‘Love Me Girl’, with its big synth intro, flashback to 90s rave,  hits you with a funky bass line –  a dirty but playful tune that gears you up for a mass love in! What this album does so well is feed off the previous track –  they were constructing an album as a whole, rather than just a batch of singles.

‘Rome’ is simply a dance around the room number which had me bouncing off the walls and should probably make you do your best jive impression! It’s ‘Mondegreen’ with it’s big brass stabs and sampling 80s drum beats that reaffirms just how serious this band are about this production.

Musically, this whole album is journey of epic goodness. ‘Odd Blood’ seems to be a natural progression for Yeasayer, a fresh beating lease of life in a new era of pop music that is oh so close to being perfect.

Check it out for free right here:

Peter Cornish-Barlow


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