Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 27/03/06
Label: Dress Up / Fiction

Yeah Yeah Yeahs first appeared - deathless Brooklyn cool in tow - in 2002 with their single "Bang", but it was the trio's "Fever To Tell" LP a year later that marked them out as heavy hitters in NYC's neo-new wave league. The band's noir-ish, bass-free minimalism took its cues from Siouxsie And The Banshees and X-Ray Spex, channelled as only artsy Americans reared on Pixies and Nirvana could.

That their sophomore LP sees them taking a step back into what often sounds very much like (whisper it) grunge should perhaps not be so surprising. After all, grunge is the default setting for U.S. post punk (see also: emo), so a combination of looser dynamics, more light and melodic softness suggests that YYY are as much following a natural trajectory as anything. "Show Your Bones", then, is part personal reprogramming, part paradigm shift.

Lead single "Gold Lion", is first out of the traps and a solid standard bearer for the first half of the album. It borrows both Beck's boho swing and the Banshees' whooping drama - an unlikely combination, maybe, but hard to beat when spliced together with that Pixies-like riff. "Fancy" too, shows off driller-killer guitar in a Hole style, but adds delicate, psych-rock scribbles to offset Karen O's sexed-up tiger yowls, while "Phenomena" marries an agreeably galumphing, old-school beat to a cart-wheeling punk tune and sci-fi electronic whooshes.

The amiable "Cheated Hearts" marks the halfway point, spiking a delayed-orgasm rhythm and eggs-over-easy melody with Nick Zinner's "Paranoid Android"-style guitar motif. This is to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' canon what Hole's "Malibu" was to theirs - whether consciously or not, a notch or nine nearer a mainstream audience.

Cue "Dudley", which ushers in the defined sweeter and softer, second half of the LP and should open up "The OC" heartland. It reprises the emotional poignancy of the mighty "Maps", but here, Karen O's trademark yelps have been replaced by Real Melodic Singing. "Mysteries" suggests that YYY have briefly (if for no longer than a studio coffee break) had their attention grabbed by The Libertines, although a sudden power surge has its skiffle erupting in a torrent of noise.

Acoustic introspection comes first with "Sweets" and then with "Warrior", which could be Melanie joining forces with Moldy Peaches to cover a Fleetwood Mac b-side. The rocking, rollicking "Turn Into" closes proceedings (UK bonus track aside), an engagingly close approximation to The Flaming Lips covering "Telstar".

This is perhaps not the follow-up album that might reasonably have been expected of Yeah Yeah Yeahs - if you've come out spitting and snarling, the usual ploy is to keep your fists up and your feet moving. "Show Your Bones" sees the band doing pretty much what the title suggests. It's flawed, but applause for adding vulnerability to their game plan, at the very least.

    by Sharon O'Connell