Thursday, September 24, 2009

Yo La Tengo - Popular (Matador Records, 2009)

Last month, Yo La Tengo returned with their twelfth – count it: twelfth – full-length studio album Popular Songs. Formed in 1984, the Hoboken, New Jersey trio have attained a longevity of which most bands can only dream.

Popular Songs opens with the kaleidoscopic “Here to Fall” which features Yo La Tengo’s most dramatic use of strings to date. Immediately following, “Avalon or Someone Very Similar” bursts through the psychedelic debris like a ray of light to reveal all of YLT’s familiar traits. Drummer Georgia Hubley’s sweet vocals fill the album’s quota for simple, distinctly charming pop. “By Two’s” is light, Summer Sun-era ambience, as is the dreamy, bongo tap-filled “I’m on My Way,” a perfect choice for an afternoon spent floating in a sunlit pool (imagery better fit for a season recently past). The up-tempo “Nothing to Hide” recalls the rough-cut fuzz-rock of I Can Here the Heart Beating as One’s “Sugar Cube” and Beach Boys cover “Little Honda.” Retro keys are backed by a groovy bass line and Ira Kaplan’s soft, buoyant falsetto on “Periodically Double or Triple,” and male-female vocal swaps and honeydew harmonies color the bouncy “If It’s True.”

The last three tracks move away from soothing, momentary pop to classic YLT drone and sprawl, clocking in at nine, eleven and sixteen minutes, respectively. Subtle guitar effects string along a dreamy undertow on “More Stars Than There Are in Heaven” and placidly wash upon listeners’ ears like a calm, early evening tide. Dabs of translucent guitars on “The Fireside” recall the aquatic sound collages of YLT’s The Sounds of the Sounds of Science but with an added human touch from Ira’s lofty vocals. And finally, “And the Glitter is Gone” completes the album’s bookend of agitated energy with lively drumming and dramatic cymbal crashes drenched in feedback. There’s not much build on this one, as YLT characteristically fade in with noise, before distortion and myriad effects invade the sonic splash-zone.

Like many seasoned alternative rock icons (such as The Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth), Yo La Tengo have essentially evolved beyond the need for reinvention. Even when they rest on their laurels, they trump most other new releases in terms of quality. I’m confident, however, Yo La Tengo have too much artistic integrity to coast on their past merits for too long. The key to Yo La Tengo’s longevity is maybe not their near-constant evolution but their overall flexibility and perhaps even honesty. Popular Songs is exactly what the title says: an unabashed ensemble of perfect pop songs, even if the latter portion is a little more “difficult” than the rest. Popular Songs is Yo La Tengo at their most unmitigated yet accessible – a shining example of their aptitude for synthesizing countless diverse styles without sounding derivative. Indeed, Popular Songs is an ideal choice for new Yo La Tengo listeners.