Yeasayer Odd Blood Album Review
9 Feb
LP Giveaway details at the end of the review.
Yeasayer
Odd Blood
Secretly Canadian
out February 9th
89/100
[Rating Scale]
Yeasayer’s sophomore release, Odd Blood, kicks off with an awful track. Let’s just put it out there. “The Children” is the weakest song on the album – a plodding, strange, positively uninteresting tune with only slightly better lyrics. You may hear people try to tell you that it’s actually a good song. Or that you don’t “get it.” Those people are ridiculous. It’s a bad song. It ignores everything Yeasayer does well, and consequently pays the price. It sounds like a something made on GarageBand in about half an hour.
It is followed, however, by nine tracks of near perfection.
“Ambling Alp,” the album’s second cut, is on the fast track to being one of the top songs of the year. It builds on the groundwork constructed on debut All Hour Cymbals, expanding the band’s sound and taking it to levels of clarity that album never reached. “O.N.E.,” the album’s second single, is an upbeat showcase of Chris Keating’s vocals and the band’s remarkably diverse backing instrumentation. “I Remember” is a slower song, wistful and beautiful, that will be tugging heartstrings on its fair share of mixtapes in the years to come. There’s something for everyone here, but more importantly, there’s everything for someone. Like Bitte Orca and Merriweather Post Pavilion did last year, Odd Blood will introduce Yeasayer to the masses without alienating existing fans.
There is an air of inevitability surrounding the release of Odd Blood, as if it were a logical step in the development of Yeasayer as a band, or their fanbase, or their commercial success. I would argue that this confidence is unfounded – at least in a vacuum. There are countless impressive young bands that fail to deliver on the promise of a strong debut, countless buzzable albums that fall flat when they reach real ears. The fact that Yeasayer has managed to create an album this strong is a testament to their ability to grow as artists, to take risks that won’t always be met with praise. The mixing on this album is noticeably different from their debut, providing more space while simultaneously dropping some of the reverb from Keating’s voice. The tracks are peppered with odd textures – a splash here, a loon cry there – and Yeasayer isn’t afraid to anchor a tune with handclaps or puncture it with falsettos. But they have managed to sonically expand without changing the heart of their music, with popping off-rhythms and worldly melodies still making the backbone of nearly every song.
Maybe the decision to start the album with the weakest track Yeasayer has ever recorded is a calculated one. Starting with a whimper, rather than a bang, essentially wipes the slate clean – it immediately removes all expectations for greatness, replaced for a sudden and desperate desire for the album not to suck. If this is the first impression that the band wanted to have, we think to ourselves, how terrible must the rest of the album be? The boiling hype that has been swirling since All Hour Cymbals turned heads in 2007 is immediately reduced to a simmer, with the hopes that we haven’t messed something up and burned it already.
If that’s the case, it’s a brilliant switcheroo. Post-“Children” there’s not a song that falls flat. Some set themselves apart, sure, but there isn’t a single dud track in the back nine, none that beg for the skip button. It’s an album that sparkles, that changes the more you listen to it. The band tries on lots of different outfits – fast and urgent, slow and ethereal – unpredictable around every turn. Where tracks on All Hour Cymbals often bled together, eschewing individual song personalities in favor of a singular album identity, Odd Blood manages that balancing act perfectly. You can understand the forest, but the trees are pretty damn fun on their own.
Rate Yeasayer’s Odd Blood
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Underwhelming at best.
7/10
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Yeasayer review by Pretty Much Amazing – [link to post]
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I gave this a 9 because it absolutely amazing!! I saw them live at the Natural History Museum last week and they were even better this time around. They are just unbelievably talented and impressive and the songs on Odd Blood are fucking contagious!
Hope it’s nice.
i would definitely disagree Ambling Alp is outstanding and O.N.E. isn’t too far off, but the rest is nothing special.
Odd Blood is so awesome! Especially Ambling Alp and O.N.E.
Great review PMA. I love all of the gusto, even though I may not share it. I think the album is pretty damn good. Maybe around a high 7 or low 8.
Anyway, this would sound great on vinyl
Best line:
“that will be tugging heartstrings on its fair share of mixtapes in the years to come”
Great review!
absolutely LOVE your review. spot on! i love this album, and seeing them live tonight in Brooklyn. going to be an epic experience. if you have the time, check out my review of the album. I wrote it a while back, but re-posted it for the release date.
http://thewildhoneypie.blogspot.com/2010/02/album-review-yeasayers-odd-blood.html
nearly the same rating you gave it. i would say that’s strange, but it’s not considering the album is near perfect….
Am I the only person in the world who actually LIKES “The Children?”
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Great review, greater album.
Definitely already put I Remember on a mixtape-gift. Hah! (“that will be tugging heartstrings on its fair share of mixtapes in the years to come”)
Also, dynamite: “You can understand the forest, but the trees are pretty damn fun on their own.”
Just saw them perform at the Natural History Museum on 2/5 and apart from their broken monitors, it was incredible! I’m calling it the best album of the year, I don’t care if it’s February, and that I’ve had it since 2009. Coachella can’t come soon enough (their next show nearby)!
“O.N.E.” is my leading contender to top my best of 2010 singles list, and I’m enjoying the album as well
Hm. For me The Children is the best track on the album. Your hatred is curious.
i’d love to see you try and recreate The Children in garageband…
The Children is one of my favorites on the album, it’s ominous and original, I don’t understand the hate.
Pitchfork kinda pooped on this album. I disagree with their review and am more along the lines with this one. Great album. Madder Red and I Remember are great, and of course, Ambling Alp and ONE…
Yeah… the album is really boring. The singles are good, not great, but the rest of the album comes of as Animal Collective lite, but without the absurdity or any of the fun. Too much of the album begs to be anthemic when it is nowhere near.
Also, I wish this review had more content, because it’s basically stating the album is good because it is mixed well and sounds good sonically. If this were the case Chris Keating could be rambling nonsensical sentences and the album would receive the same rating. Many of the songs are poorly fleshed out and touch on familiar subjects in tired and uninspired ways. Content-wise, this album is skimpy, and the great arrangements and instrumentation can’t save that.
This album is pretty fantastic… and I think it is utterly strange how atrocious the first track is. Producers failed Yeasayer in this realm.
Doug916@gmail.com
Best album Ive heard this year.
regarding children as being a “bad” song
i believe it was made to be “weird” at best to set up the rest of the album
its slow and dreery and makes you want the upbeat of ambling alp
Best album Ive heard this year.
regarding children as being a “bad” song
i believe it was made to be “weird” at best to set up the rest of the album
its slow and dreery and makes you want the upbeat of ambling alp
Yeasayer review by Pretty Much Amazing – http://prettymuchamazing.com/reviews/albumreviews/yeasayer-odd-blood-album-review
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Yeasayer Odd Blood Album Review http://prettymuchamazing.com/reviews/albumreviews/yeasayer-odd-blood-album-review
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Yeasayer Odd Blood Album Review http://prettymuchamazing.com/reviews/albumreviews/yeasayer-odd-blood-album-review
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Funny enough, MGMT opened for these guys at La Sala Rossa in Montreal 2 years ago http://url.gy/2hy
This comment was originally posted on MW Music review