Yeah Yeah Yeahs shows its insides

By Scott Orwig
Collegian Staff
March 29, 2006

For a band that faced the challenge of living up to the obscenely high expectations that preceded its 2003 full-length debut, Fever to Tell, escaping the so-called “sophomore slump” should be no problem for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, right? After listening to the New York trio’s latest effort, Show Your Bones, the answer is unclear.

Show Your Bones is an album of contrast. Elaborate production flourishes beg the listeners’ attention, yet Nick Zinner’s formerly thunderous guitar and Karen O’s once-biting vocals rarely raise themselves to an appropriately engaging level. The entire album is a confusing push-pull of unbridled enthusiasm and unnecessary restraint. When the band manages to find a happy medium between the two, however, the results are impressive, to say the least.

“Gold Lion,” Show Your Bones’ opening track and lead single, initially resembles a Sea Change-era Beck acoustic march, and gradually builds on top of the simple drum and acoustic guitar base with a distorted electric guitar and a couple of engaging synth flourishes that increase in intensity with every passing verse. It doesn’t have the understated beauty of a song like “Maps,” but it isn’t supposed to have that. “Gold Lions” is still handily one of the strongest tracks Show Your Bones has to offer.

“Lion” is followed by “Way Out,” providing the album with an impressive opening one-two punch. Zinner’s powerful guitar provides an instrumental representation of the desperate emotions Karen O expresses through the tracks’ vocals. It is one of the few songs in which Zinner and O’s collective efforts outweigh the albums many – and often unnecessary – production touches.

After a strong opening, Show Your Bones loses steam on the plodding “Fancy,” which sounds as if it were recorded underwater. All of the elements of a solid track are right there, but manage to come off as an unfortunate, muddled mess.

Further distorting the song is a puzzling and unnecessary vocal effect that takes the life out of the singing. Karen O’s vocals are supposed to be the centerpiece of the band’s sound. Why attempt to hide them? Save the vocal filters for The Strokes.

Zinner’s guitar suffers a similar fate on “Phenomena.” It’s there, but it’s turned down so far that it almost becomes a nuisance. In fact, the majority of “Phenomena” could be aptly described as a “nuisance.” It’s just a thoroughly joyless effort from the start that becomes more and more grating as it progresses.

The fifth track, “Honeybear,” manages to salvage the flow of the album with a simple pop melody that occasionally turns dark courtesy of a menacing guitar riff. On the whole, however, the song is an exhibition for Karen O’s vocal charms. Once again, though, the track is hampered by production that relegates the rhythm section to the background. Throughout this and other songs, the drums and rhythm guitar seem primed for a breakout that never really takes shape.

Outside of questionable production choices, the thread that holds the album together is the lyrical subject matter. Obviously written in response to the band’s overnight fame and the subsequent trappings and expectations associated with it, even Show Your Bones’ lighter tracks share tinges of weariness brought on by the band’s unyielding schedule of touring and promotion. The whole thing provides a more human element to Karen O’s stage persona.

Show Your Bones is no Fever to Tell, to be sure. But at the same time, it could be far worse. Even underneath useless layers of production, the band’s undeniable charisma still manages to shine through, though not as brightly as it probably should. It isn’t the strongest effort, but it’s still worthy of a listen. While it doesn’t have a song capable of gaining the mainstream exposure of “Maps,” it has a handful of songs that wouldn’t make you change the station if they came on the radio.

orwigs1@lasalle.edu