Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down
New York art-rockers Yeah Yeah Yeahs return with hints of what makes them so formidable, but it feels like there's something missing
Yeah Yeah Yeahs feel such a part of the rock canon that it's hard to believe that they're only now releasing their fifth album. Cool It Down continues the musically omnivorous style that the band quickly developed after their instant-classic garage debut, Fever to Tell, but feels a little slight at barely 30 minutes.
Karen O remains the most obviously attention-grabbing aspect of the band, but her vocals feel a little subdued here (apart from on Burning). This helps to shift the focus onto the arrangements, like the winding guitars and static beat of Blacktop or the rubbery ESG homage of Fleez, a song which is NYC paying tribute to NYC almost to the point of parody (see also: The Velvet Underground-aping album title).
Different Today is a cut-and-paste orchestral-disco party in the vein of The Avalanches, with vocals that are surprisingly languid compared to O's usual fierceness, but it fits with the general theme of the album: the world is fucked but at least we can party (and maybe do something about it). Spitting Off the Edge of the World emphasises this from the get-go giving a weary farewell to the earth, but in a punky way with gorgeous counterpoint vocals from Perfume Genius.
Cool It Down is topical without getting too deep, and fun without overstaying its welcome, but even for a band as mercurial as YYYs, it feels a little too ephemeral.
Listen to: Different Today, Spitting Off the Edge of the World