7.5 / 10: Originally Published on April 20, 2006
In 2003, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their debut album Fever to Tell, an unfiltered mix of noise and uninhibited energy fronted by a beer-guzzling sex goddess provocatively named Karen O. A year later, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were introduced to modern rock radio via the tear-soaked balladry of the song “Maps.” Whether you’ve heard this song or not, you’ve almost certainly heard its ripped off and pumped full of pop steroids wicked step-sister “Since U Been Gone” (and if you don’t believe that comparison, just listen to Ted Leo’s cover of the latter). More relevantly, “Maps” was a song completely atypical of the sound of Fever to Tell and yet it was by far the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ biggest hit to date. As one can surmise, a situation like this can create quite a dilemma for any band trying to create their “make or break” second album: should the artist stick to their guns and regard the hit as a lucky fluke or should they take this opportunity to experiment and see if their luck will hold?
On their new release, Show Your Bones, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs seem to aim for the elusive middle ground between these two choices but end up leaning heavily towards the latter. While their first album was a carefree celebration of scoring a date with the night, this album, as with many sophomore efforts, contains a sense of weariness and indignation that only experience can produce. That’s not to say this album isn’t any fun, though. Tracks like “Honeybear” and (bonus track) “Deja Vu” are clear throwbacks to previous efforts, and it is impossible not to want to bob your head to the indie-shuffle of a song like “Mysteries,” especially when the guitar breaks free somewhere near its middle.
The guitar sound is one of the first things that one will likely notice about the music on this album. Guitarist Nick Zinner seems to have taken an occasional liking to replacing his trademark squealing, space-laser guitar sound for an acoustic, campfire sing-along model, as can be heard in the front-porch melancholy of “The Sweets” and the defiant “Warrior.” This, too, is not necessarily a bad thing and most of the album’s highlights come form Zinner being able to find a balance between these two distinct sounds. First single “Gold Lion,” with its glorious “ooh oohs,” urgent guitars and swaggering drum beat, makes you want to pump your fist in the air and sing along. Its about a hundred times better than it should be and twice as catchy.
Yet while Zinner’s guitar blips, bleeps and blasts do much to interest the ears, one can hardly ignore the fact that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ show still belongs to singer Karen O. Purified of her wild child antics, her passion is free to take center stage and demand the listener’s intrigue. While the lyrics rarely make much sense (“Gold lion gonna tell me where the light is”?), they are delivered with such genuine emotion and, most importantly, sheer attitude that one could hardly care less. Whether lamenting a tender lullaby like “Dudley” with a lazy drawl or spitting venom on the Sabbath-like (and LL Cool J influenced?) stomper “Phenomena,” Karen O has the essential quality every front (wo)man needs: the ability to make listeners believe in every word he or she is singing about, even if it is meaningless.
Show Your Bones reaches its peak in the defeated optimism of the beautiful “Cheated Hearts,” the true successor to “Maps’” breaking heart sentimentality. At its climax, Karen O shouts out “Sometimes I think that I’m bigger than the sound” and is answered by a thunderous guitar riff begging to disagree. It is this clash, the conflict between sound and voice, music and the individual, belief and reality that gives the album true tension and, thus, true heart and soul.
