However, even on this track the band experiment, producing some startling keyboards that at times remind the listener of – gasp! – Depeche Mode.Īlthough Karen O’s demented onstage persona attracts the bulk of the fan attention, musically YYYs are dominated by ‘the other two’. That’s not to say that Yeah Yeah Yeahs are past the stage of producing some straightforward rockers – ‘Shame And Fortune’ has Karen O out-purring Iggy Pop. Yet strangely, within the context of such daring material, the track feels hollow – a concession to the group they were, rather than an exposition of the band they are rapidly becoming.
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Opening with some jagged guitar from Zinner, it explodes into a stomping anthem, as the group show The Ting Tings how to (de)construct a pop song.
Fans left scratching their heads by the disco influences on display were no doubt appeased when their modem delivered them ‘Dull Life’. Notoriously, the album leaked online forcing the group to bring the digital release date forward.
Think about it: in ‘Rock-A-Bye Baby’ and the cradle coming crashing down, from a tree of all places! Purring softly into the microphone, Karen O intones an ode to death with the lines: “love left dry, frost or flame, skeleton me”. Rather, the simple rhymes evolve a lullaby, with all the danger that suggests. It would be trite to link the lyrics to a haiku, however. Karen O has frequently flirted with oriental imagery, and the track is bathed with Far Eastern tonality. ‘It’s Blitz!’ reaches its darkest point with ‘Skeletons’. Filled with epic grandeur, and some martial drumming from Brian Chase, it sounds like Bono if he ever said something worth listening to. Karen O describes the loss found in a nightclub, when the music rolls and the dancefloor becomes a unified whole. Filled to the brim with dark sexuality, it leads the way for what is undoubtedly some of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ darkest material to date.Īn immediate contrast, ‘Heads Will Roll’ also promises a form of submission – but to the beat. Her voice seems numbed, unable to experience emotion unless it’s in the form of pain. Using a dominatrix persona, vocalist Karen O seems in the mood for revenge, with the lyrics hinting at hidden violence. Beneath a wash of crystal-clear synths, Nick Zinner’s guitar clatters against the technology, a chaotic mixture of disco and rock.
Opening with ‘Zero’, the band is clearly in no mood to pull their punches. These inner tensions seem to drive the album’s sonic ambition, with the trio seemingly eager to take their place in the pantheon of stadium artists – without sacrificing any of their trademark raunchiness. Taking another three years to carve out ‘It’s Blitz!’ the band are faced with a problem: they clearly can’t retread former glories, yet any major change in direction would demolish much of what they had worked for. Working to their own pace, the group are an oddity in a high-velocity industry.
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