It has been too long since Yo La Tengo’s last album ‘I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass’, so it was a welcome surprise when I heard that this was due out. One listen to it confirms that the band are as quirky and experimental as ever, but at the same time can produce great indie-pop like ‘Here To Fall’, which opens the album. The sweeping strings at the end recall parts of ‘I Am The Walrus’, while the song itself is as catchy as anything that they have written so far. ‘Avalon Or Someone Very Similar’ floats by on a cloud of subdued fuzz guitars, while the vocal soars on this deceptively simple song. ‘By Two’s’ is more experimental, with a droning backing and minimal bass and drums, and it evokes an atmosphere of otherworldliness. If there is one thing that Yo La Tengo excel at it is being able to change genres in the blink of an eye, and so from the dreamy ‘By Two’s’ we are treated to the 60’s garage rock of ‘Nothing To Hide’, complete with gritty guitar solo and pulsing organ. ‘Periodically Double Or Triple’ rides along on a funky bassline and Stax organ, including a great discordant solo, and this groove carries on with the purer Motown sound of ‘If It’s True’. ‘I’m On My Way’ is a countrified ballad, which oddly enough doesn’t sound out of place after the last three tracks, and ‘When It’s Dark’ is pure indie pop, complete with harmony vocals and catchy melody. ‘All Your Secrets’ adds in some twangy guitar and a nice organ break for another 60’s influenced pop song, which brings to a close the first half of the album. As is always the case with Yo La Tengo, they love to challenge their listeners, so the last three tracks on here are lengthy guitar work-outs, starting with the slow building ‘More Stars Than There Are In Heaven’. Although stretched out to over nine minutes, this is still a fairly conventional rock song, and grooves along nicely for its allotted time. ‘The Fireside’ is a bit more abstract, with its acoustic and electric guitar pretty much carrying the whole piece, and even when the vocals make a fleeting appearance at the end it just adds to the atmosphere created by the sparseness of the instrumentation. ‘And The Glitter Is Gone’ closes the album with one of the band’s trademark guitar freakouts – fifteen minutes of squalling guitar, krautrock rhythms and chanted vocals. For me this is the band at their best, although I know it is not to some people’s taste, but the great thing about Yo La Tengo is that if you don’t like this style there are plenty of other songs that you will enjoy, so don’t be afraid to give them a try.
