Albums

Yeasayer - Odd Blood

Oli Shilling 22/02/2010

Rating: 4.5/5

Several weeks ago, I read an article that compared Yeasayer song 'O.N.E.' to Animal Collective's 2009 masterpiece, 'My Girls'. As a ground rule, this is enough for me to give a song a lot of time, and it paid off. Soon enough, I'm addicted to Yeasayer and since getting hold of their sophomore album Odd Blood it has been on heavy repeat.

The album kicks off with what is by far its worst track - 'The Children' which is a droning, scientific experiment of noise that's much less joyous than the other offerings, my only hope is that this doesn't put anyone off continuing to listen. The comparison to Animal Collective is a justifiable one, both are experimental alternative bands driven towards creating brand new sounding material, both are brilliant. 'Ambling Alp' stands out on the record, being the catchiest out of the lot with it's repetitive and meaningful chorus “stick up for yourself son, never mind what anybody else done”. It's simply fantastic, and sure to feature in many best of 2010 lists, I know it's only February but I'm very optimistic.

The high quality pursues throughout the next four outstanding songs, with 'O.N.E.' being an infectious disco track that compels an instantaneous dance of the listeners' choice. 'Love Me Girl' especially builds for two minutes before it breaks into a sumptuous and funky frenzy of synth. The last four tracks are noticeably less successful, but don't get me wrong, they're still strong. 'Rome' and 'Mondegreen' seem to try too hard, but regardless prevail as upbeat head boppers. Final track 'Grizelda' succeeds where the aforementioned fall short, with a slower pace and simpler layering that completes a very good album. All in all, the faults are few and most of the tracks are outstanding, making this one of the most experimental yet convincing albums since , it's a huge success.