:: Buy Now: $13.95
:: Track list & details
New York City's Yeah Yeah Yeahs rode singer/art icon Karen O's defiant firecracker stature all the way to its natural conclusion on 2003's excellent Fever To Tell. The band's gold-certified debut walked the fine line between pretentious art-school decadence and mainstream pop appeal, showcased the band's signature melodic quirkiness, and still managed to out-punk the entire Warped Tour roster combined. By the end of that record though, the band was clearly gassed. Through the first two-thirds of Fever, Nick Zinner's catalytic guitar shrieks and Brian Chase's inventive drumming were caught in the exhausting act of both propelling and limiting O's pop star appeal at the same time. By the final act, they seemed content to let the woman inside shine. And shine she did. The result was a near-perfect marriage of noise and heart, culminating in the gorgeouse "Maps."
With Show Your Bones, Yeah Yeah Yeahs tone down the noise and push Karen O's voice to the front of the mix. Chase opens the proceedings with a stadium-sized, albeit lurching, take on Queen's "We Will Rock You" before an acoustic (!) guitar launches the band into the first single. "Gold Lion" is an oddly accessible single that eventually pulsates and buzzes, post-grunge style, with some of the swagger one would associate with New York indie rock. "Way Out" begins with a minute of restrained, laconic groove before it's elevated by Zinner, who drops some of his signature naughtiness. However, in throwing out the skuzz, the band also loses some of the fire. Despite the presence of some Money Mark keys, "Fancy" never really takes off and O's yelps and screams at the end come off more obligatory than essential. "Phenomena" is little more than a dressed-up b-side, while "Mysteries" takes a little too long to get wired. Stumbles aside, the instrumentalists of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (much like peak-era Blondie) exude the kind of sheer creativity that's necessary to hold it together when you're singer is gracing magazine covers sans you.
Both more listenable and less immediate than Fever, Show Your Bones is the sound of a conflicted band caught in the jaws of a necessary reinvention. In their original incarnation, the band would likely not survive, but—based on evidence brought forth in the strangely infectious "Gold Lion" and the sublime "Cheated Hearts"—this version may just have some shelf life.
Subscribe to Feed
