Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
[We Are Free]

All this racing indie and bleeding heart emo leaves a hole for some much needed shoegazing and reflective full bodied empiricism. Brooklyn’s Yeasayer throw the likes of Mum, Bjork, Grandaddy, The Rapture and Four Tet into a melting pot and then stick it in an industrial fridge for contrast. Epic tune-writing draws emotion out more dramatically and effectively than most modern films. Tone mixing clatter and ambient backing vocals add a contrast to the uplifting lyrical push of ‘Sunrise’, as the lyrics are delivered with Anthony & The Johnsons’ styled, eloquent quaintness by Anand Wilder.

Digital dabbling stomps over a cushy folk base to be topped off with joyous handclapping, giving ‘Wait For The Summer’ oomph and pounce, rubbing against the bleeding hearted subject matter and desperate vocal delivery. The latter element leaps up from a fuzzy spring for ‘2080’, similar to that which Tunng have used to swooning effect in the past, but is delivered by Yeasayer with a more topsy-turvy wobble, merging the boundaries between shouting and singing. However, calming soulful backing is used to keep the polished push going at the same time.

For a quartet, the accompaniments are extremely broad and well orchestrated in the sense that they change tempo to match the mood without losing impetus, seemingly leaving few instruments untouched. A gospel touch filters through the likes of ‘Ah. Weir’, adding a touch of The Polyphonic Spree inspired euphoria, pitching it at more of an ambient level. As the album builds so does the theatrical nature of the material reaching a nadir through, ‘No Need To Worry’ and the eerie, soul trickling ‘Forgiveness’.

Lyrically Yeasayer seem a little subdued, often hiding them behind strands of cosmopolitan instrumental foraging, but through ‘Worms’ they seem to hit a defiant philosophical groove: “The things I should have known, I’ll find my way around.”

Yeasayer use expansive, shuddering music to search for and communicate simple solutions and life views. They are a band who needs to be bold in their choice of venue in order to fully capture their searching and mood implanting, instrumental poise in a live setting. Venues like churches are the key and the result will lead them to discover many worshippers.

All Our Hour Cymbals Track Listing:

1. Sunrise
2. Wait For The Summer
3. 2080
4. Germs
5. Ah Weir
6. No Need To Worry
7. Forgiveness
8. Wintertime
9. Waves
10. Worms
11. Red Cave