Eclectic Brooklyn oddballs Yeasayer go for an upbeat synth-pop feel on their second album. It's still weird and wonderful, with plenty of strange and enticing ideas vibrating through a selection of exuberant, dance-worthy numbers.
Yeasayer are a weird bunch. They may look like white trash, but they sound more like a load of futuristic hippies. Often described as 'psychedelic', the term not only refers to their trippy cover art and wacked-out videos, but to a sound that was literally inspired by a mass acid trip. Recorded with Peter Gabriel's drummer Jerry Marotta in his upstate New York studio, Odd Blood is a much more upbeat outing than 2007's striking and eccentric All Hour Cymbals, sidelining their formerly dominant gospel, prog and Indian and South Asian influences in favour of disco, funk and pop.
Yeasayer always had a penchant for electronic beats and effects, but here they go all out with 80s style synths, experimenting wildly to create some wonderfully twisted and inhuman sounds. The finest moments are those sung by Anand Wilder whose warm, exotic tones are sweet and endearing on self-effacing number 'Madder Red' and vulnerable on juddering dance-pop track 'O.N.E'. That's not to say that Chris Keating doesn't deliver some feisty, engaging vocals, but they are secondary to bending synths, frenzied beats and quivering effects on standout up-tempo songs 'Ambling Alp' and 'Rome'. All the while, Yeasayer still make creative use of conventional instruments, adding the kind of brass line that would be at home in a TVOTR or Menomena track to the bassy retro funk of 'Mondegreen'.
While Yeasayer's tendency to entangle seemingly incompatible layers of sound to form a more cohesive whole has earned them comparisons to their acclaimed Brooklyn neighbours Animal Collective, in truth they are an altogether more accessible prospect. While All Hour Cymbals had a certain iconoclastic, bohemian spirit about it, Odd Blood's curiously embellished pop melodies do make it an easier album to listen to. The best bit is, there's no telling what these boys will do next.
