Music

In today’s climate, where musicians are falling over themselves to shock/amuse/ piss off with their band names and randomly dropping exclamation marks like so much typographical litter, it’s refreshing to encounter a band gathered under a banner as straightforward and unashamedly positive as Yeasayer.

This Brooklyn quartet has declared that ‘only enlightenment can prevent terror everywhere,’ a sentiment that might sensibly be extended to refer to musical dogmatists with a chronic fear of anything different or ‘uncool’, ie quite possibly, their own music. Led by samples man/keyboardist Chris Keating – who first began Yeasayer as a solo project – the band offers something different from the disco punk, avant noise and art rock usually favoured by their Brooklyn peers. Yeasayer themselves have described their sound as ‘middle-Eastern psych-pop/snap-gospel,’ but we’re nonplussed by that. It’s more the work of four aficionados of ’80s new wave and soft rock who’ve chewed the fat with Animal Collective and have a sizeable world music collection. Weird? Mmmm, yes. Wonderful? Pretty much.

Yeasayer’s debut single, ‘2080’ (out next week) is a cream-whipped dream of Fleetwood Mac, Tears For Fears and Thomas Mapfumo, all soaring, vocal harmonies, cascading synth parts and muffled tribal drums, with highlife guitars and a children’s choir. ‘Sunrise’ is the equally seductive, Afro-funky flip, suggesting TV On The Radio as produced by Peter Gabriel. Tunde Adebimpe and co are Yeasayer’s closest kindred spirits, but fabulous track ‘Wintertime’ sees them shifting into almost malevolent, Liars-like territory. These two shows are Yeasayer’s first-ever London live dates and promise a palate-cleansing rush in a swamp of uniformity. How could you possibly say no?