It’s been four long years, but avant-punk trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs has returned with a trippier-than-ever LP to feed your inner art-school weirdo. The psychedelia-infused album pays homage to the band’s punk roots while weaving in the raw intensity of Show Your Bones andIt’s Blitz!-like electronica/dance beats. Mosquito boasts 11 dreamy tracks fueled by Karen O’s fiery yelps, Nick Zinner’s striking guitarwork, and Brian Chase’s complex percussive skills. The opening lines of the first single, “Sacrilege,” almost deceive us into thinking O has abandoned her abstract songwriting style for seemingly romantic lyrics. But the singer returns to form when she breaks into a squeal and the steady, driving drums lead us into the finale: a gospel chorus of voices chanting, “It’s sacrilege!” The album often lapses into ethereal vibes, like on the reverb-filled “Subway,” which loops the noise of a passing subway car. The YYYs also throw reggae into the mix on “Under the Earth,” a moody electronica song made stranger by world-beat percussion. The title track provides one of O’s best freakouts and some of her strongest lyrics, when she expresses her hatred for the pesky insect and ends with a resounding “SUCK!” Yeah Yeah Yeahs bring unrestrained, turbulent emotion to Mosquito, a refreshingly lo-fi record that does anything but suck.
May 11, 2013 — Sweetlife Festival/Merriweather Post in Columbia, MD
May 12, 2013 — House of Blues in Boston, MA
May 17, 2013 — Great Googamooga Festival in Brooklyn, NY
May 19, 2013 — Hangout Music Festival Gulf Shores, AL
June 22, 2013 — Firefly Festival in Dover, DE
June 24, 2013 — First Avenue in Minneapolis, MN
June 28, 2013 — Kanrocksas in Kansas City, KS
See Yeah Yeah Yeahs full tour schedule here.
By Tess Duncan
This review appears in the Apr/May 2013 issue of BUST Magazine with cover girl Grimes. Subscribe now.
