Yeasayer // Longevity // 20.08.2012 // Mute Records
Taken from their third album ‘Fragrant World’, due out next month, Yeasayer unleash ‘Longevity,’ a resoundingly poppier affair which grinds its way sexily into your head and stays there all day.
More radio-ready than previous boutique-tinged releases from the band, ‘Longevity’ has a more instant appeal. Results are mixed, and fans of the avant-garde psych-pop focus of earlier releases ‘All Hour Cymbals’ and even the poppier ‘Odd Blood’ might argue that a step towards the mainstream is a step backwards.
However this might be one case where a broader appeal doesn’t necessarily result in watered-down middle-of-the-road mediocrity. Imploring us “to live in the moment and not count on longevity, pleeeease,” the track is as bubbly, sticky and sweet as pink lemonade on a hot summer day in New York City.
Still packing all the Middle Eastern and African flavours we’ve come to expect from Brooklyn’s hippy-trippy finest, ‘Longevity’ is driven by a thumping drum machine beat, smouldering and simmering under the surface.
It never quite explodes into a climax though and leaves the listener wanting more. Still, it serves well to thoroughly whet the appetite for the rest of the new album.
