Album Review: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cool It Down
Image via Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Breaking the silence with a cool new sound
After nine years, Yeah Yeah Yeahs have turned the ears of alternative listeners yet again with the ethereal and danceable Cool It Down – and for long-time fans, it's a welcome and refreshing new chapter for the indie rock trio. Partially responsible for the indie rock boom in early-2000s New York, Karen O, Nick Zinner, and Brian Chase captured the attention of the alternative rock world with Fever to Tell in 2003, featuring indie staples like “Maps” and “Y Control”. Now, Cool It Down has already tied with Mosquito for the band’s top charting album, currently no. 5 on Billboard’s top album sales. It isn’t hard to see why, either.
Drawing parallels to post-pandemic America, the album paints pictures of environmental crises and a dystopian society. “Before we got into the studio, it was one of the worst wildfire seasons in L.A. Blade Runner 2049. Red skies. Ash.” singer Karen O, a New-Yorker turned Californian, told Vulture. “It was apocalyptic. That really seeps into your psyche, especially after a year of total dystopia of the pandemic.”
This deep-seated theme of apocalypse is channeled from the very beginning of the album with “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” – a chill-inducing, powerful synth rock anthem with lyrics illuminating the heavy burdens youth inherit from older generations. A simple kick-kick-snare explodes into a wide expanse of verbed-out synths as O’s gentle yet powerful vocals glow like the sun in an ash-filled sky. Extreme dynamics, slowly-developing intros, hard-cut endings, and aggressive synths continue after the first song as recurring elements of the album.
One of the most diverse works by the band yet, Cool It Down channels elements of many genres, including post rock, ambient rock, psychedelic rock, glam pop and nu-gaze; records by MuteMath, Phantogram, Thievery Corporation and Working For A Nuclear Free City come to mind. The album maintains a fairly steady pace, with several upbeat, powerhouse tracks near the beginning and middle and a few ballads in the end. Drums and sequencers hold down the groove, with epic drum breaks in “Fleez” and “Burning”, and the bass steals the spotlight in a few key moments, like the verses and choruses of “Fleez”. While he admits that the guitar takes on a supportive role, Zinner contributes everything from beautiful, shimmering E-bow harmonies (“Spitting Off the Edge of the World” and “Blacktop”) to washed out textures (“Lovebomb”) and killer fuzz lines (“Burning”) (guitarworld.com). O’s vocals cover a lot of ground, from her signature punk-esque shout-singing to spoken word (“Mars”). Her vocal is as snarky as ever in “Fleez”, with falsetto passages almost comically juxtaposing the aggressive, edgy synth and guitar line.
The production of Dave Sitek, Justin Raisen and Andrew Wyatt is stunning, blending the best parts of the band’s organic rock sound with something completely different. Jaw dropping moments for lovers of bass and drums, oscillating delays, orchestral arrangements and plenty of ear candy help usher in a forward-thinking and relevant sound that takes the band in a new, fitting direction. The mixes are dark and present, making amazing use of the stereo field and using reverb, delay, and panning in surprising and interesting ways.
Although new territory for the band, the synth-heavy Cool It Down is a very believable and natural progression in the band’s sound over the years. It wouldn’t be a far stretch of the imagination to picture tracks like “Zero” or “Y Control” fitting into the new record if they had been released today – no doubt a testament to the band’s decade-transcending sound and the producers’ ability to preserve that sound while connecting to the next generation of listeners.
At the end of it all, though, perhaps the heart of Cool It Down is hope – for love, a brighter future, and humanity in the midst of darkness. No doubt, listeners are receiving the message and are excited for this new chapter in the band’s story.
