{"id":4855,"date":"2016-06-03T13:37:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T17:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=4855"},"modified":"2016-06-24T13:13:55","modified_gmt":"2016-06-24T17:13:55","slug":"yeasayer-amen-goodbye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/yeasayer-amen-goodbye\/","title":{"rendered":"Yeasayer <br>Amen &#038; Goodbye"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/yeasayer-amen_goodbye.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4856\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/yeasayer-amen_goodbye.jpg\" alt=\"Yeasayer, Amen &amp; Goodbye\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/yeasayer-amen_goodbye.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/yeasayer-amen_goodbye-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>When they released their second album, <i>Odd Blood<\/i>, in 2010, Yeasayer were on the rise to indie mega-stardom alongside the likes of Grizzly Bear, Beach House, and St. Vincent. But unlike the others, Yeasayer chose to ignore the brass ring and make a left-hand turn. Their debut, <i>All Hour Cymbals<\/i>, had been unusual, but its pleasures were easy to access. With <i>Odd Blood<\/i> and 2012\u2019s <i>Fragrant World<\/i>, their work became more obscure. However, if you weren\u2019t turned away by the hideous album art or the increasingly strange sounds, you were in for a treat. Those albums reward repeat listeners with the unique charm of iconoclasts burying their best songs under layers of gaud. To put it another way, even after you figure out where the hook is in a Yeasayer song, it still feels like a discovery every time.<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019s no surprise that the most obvious anthem on <i>Amen &amp; Goodbye<\/i> (Mute Records), the band\u2019s new album is more than a little mangled. \u201cI Am Chemistry\u201d has the propulsive force and simplified structure of a pop hit. You can imagine the record label giving it a thumbs up, and the band thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s way too likable.\u201d So they disfigured it with off-putting key changes, queasy robotic voices, an overlong instrumental section, and a children\u2019s choir singing about dangerous medicinal plants. That\u2019s a good indication of how things go for the rest of the album. The musical mood is mostly foreboding, slow, and angry, and the lyrics are dominated by metaphors about getting lost in the woods and watching the sky fall, mixed with Biblical allusions and frequent, barely veiled mentions of regular drug use. There are light touches on occasion (\u201cSilly Me,\u201d \u201cDead Sea Scrolls\u201d), but those moments are so saccharine they verge on nauseating.<\/p>\n<p>As you get deeper into the track list, the clouds above disappear, and the songs become downright claustrophobic. Detailing sad break-ups and abusive relationships, these are ugly fables in which the necessary escape is as troubling as the pain of sticking around. \u201cThere is something there in the darkness,\u201d sings Chris Keating, and you truly hope for a light at the end of the tunnel. Even the real beauty of \u201cUma,\u201d seemingly an ode to a child, begins and ends with a creepy instrumental turn. \u201cCold Night,\u201d is almost upbeat, comparatively direct, and feels like someone reaching out, but makes the declaration that \u201cto my daughter you&#8217;ll be an ancient memory. If we even mention you at all, It\u2019s too scary.\u201d Indeed, Yeasayer rarely makes it easy, but this time there\u2019s very little joy waiting to be discovered in the scary shadows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When they released their second album, <i>Odd Blood<\/i>, in 2010, Yeasayer were on the rise to indie mega-stardom alongside the likes of Grizzly Bear, Beach House, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,618,1572],"class_list":["post-4855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-mute-records","tag-yeasayer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Yeasayer Amen &amp; 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