All Hour Cymbals [CD]

The latest thing is supposedly Indie Music informed by World Music and Yeasayer are perhaps the prime exponents of this trend. Looking back, there have been hybrids of this kind in the past - the Wedding Present's side project, The Ukrainians being a prime example. Then there were a host of bands in the early nineties who went a stage further and added dance music into the indie-world mix - the unfairly forgotten and utterly wonderful Transglobal Underground are a case in point.

Now come Yeasayer, Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective and Beirut amongst others. These artists follow the template to carying degrees with Beirut the least indie of all and Animal Collective providing only hints of non-Anglo sounds. Yeasayer, however, need to be congratulated for making a very good fist of attempting a brand new sound. The LP really is a difficult one to compare to anything else and if a few of the tracks take a while to get into, most hit the spot very well indeed. Prime amongst these is the fabulous "2080" - a lament for the planet which rings out over crystal clear production and is topped off with a marvellous multi-person chorus at the end. "All Hour Cymbals" is not showstoppingly good, but it's one of the most refreshing new albums released in 2007.

World music has been infiltrated into other genres for some considerable time .George Harrison brought his love of Indian mysticism and culture into The Beatles and various bands down the years have done the same .Dance bands in the 1990,s especially seemed to cotton on how vibrant and exotic music could sound filtering in music from other cultures , so bands like Transglobal Underground and Loop Guru made some of the most essential music of that era and indeed continue to do so to this day. Then of course there is seminal work like Brian Eno and David Byrnes " My Life In the Bush Of Ghosts", Talking Heads "Remain In Light" , even Paul; Simons "Graceland".
Yeasayer is one of a number of bands from New York causing a bit of a buzz as I believe it's industry cool to say. Yeassayer though, doesn't just integrate world music with pop or rock or dance or whatever , he isn't that genre specific . Yeasayer chucks just about everything into the mix .There are elements of pop, rock , dance , funk , jazz and probably other stuff as well but it's most distinctive in the use of non-western music. The band list some of their influences as Cyndi Lauper, Leonard Cohen, Thomas Mapfumo and Popul Vuh but you could cheerfully add TV On The Radio or Arcade Fire onto that list.
So now I've got all that stuff about who it sounds like it's time to broach what the music sounds like. Gee....that's a more difficult proposition .If I said "2080" had a Beach Boys melody construed by African tribesman as the sun set on a sun baked plain would that help? Album opener "Sunrise" has an earthy gospel vibe allied to knuckle popping percussion and woozy handclaps. "Wait For The Summer" filters multi tracked vocals through chiming bells , zinging strings amid a ramshackle arrangement. "Germs" is a more cautious bleary number till the exhortations of the chorus. "Ah Wier" is a delicate caress of harmonies and diffuse electronics while "No Need To Worry" is by contrast more portentous with tolling bell piano and funereal percussion and at odds with it's calming title does sound like something to get worked up about.
Most striking track is the extraordinary "Forgiveness". Over clattering stick striking it sounds like a My Bloody Valentine drone off "Loveless" playing in the same room as Can in their most primal boogie mode but at the wrong speed.....and played backwards. "Wait For The Wintertime" is the albums straight up rock primordial moment with a clattering riff broken by atonal saxophone. "Worms/Waves" fires up with more skew whiff riffing or if you prefer skew riffs....before an emollient ambient drift into a languid percussion/piano mantra before silence....then hidden track "Red Hands" staggers in on crystal chords and chimes before the vocals build like slightly rough cousins of the Polyphonic Spree.
Music as ambitious as this won't always work and there moments on the album where it careers up cul de sacs or wanders down fetid back alleys knocking over trash filled bins but they never last for long and before you know it the music is back on that multi-lane highway of possibilities where any where in the world in a possible destination and the trip is multi coloured ethnocentric blast. Seriously , this a great album. Anybody with a genuine interest in music and it's realms of likely potential will find much to savour here .Yeasayer.....just say YEAH!

Best band I have heard in such a long time. Even from a first listen im completely hooked. They sound far better live too.