See Mystery Lights by YACHT
LABEL: DFA  |||  RELEASE: July 28, 2009

"...buck the current dance trend of melding atonality to a standard four-on-the-floor beat by jumbling the (already dilatory) rhythms instead; nevertheless, they could fit in on any forward-thinking dance floor."

More of a conceptual art project than a reformed punk duo, Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans (otherwise known under the former’s longtime moniker of YACHT) have become a veritable sensation in recent weeks. Having signed to James Murphy’s DFA Records, their upcoming See Mystery Lights (due out on July 28th) has elicited glowing reviews from the indie press, namely a Pitchfork Best New Music nod for the single “Psycho City”; it has also inspired one of the more ingenuous publicity campaigns of the year, a difficult feat in the ephemeral tides of 2009. Owing perhaps to Evans’s background as a science fiction writer, they have taken to describing their enterprise as “a belief system and business” on their website—all too crass, perhaps, but it’s nice to see that some indie outfits haven’t lost sight of Devo/Kraftwerk-esque insouciance in an era where sincerity isn't a prized commodity.

The album finds Bechtolt—who previously collaborated with Devendra Banhart and gained initial notoriety as one half of The Blow—transitioning from the benignly off-kilter electro sound of previous efforts to a greater eclecticism that recalls the Talking Heads during their Speaking in Tongues phase. In other words, there’s a little bit for everyone here, all of it relatively accessible. “I’m in Love with a Ripper” and the LCD Soundsystem-inspired “Summer Song” buck the current dance trend of melding atonality to a standard four-on-the-floor beat by jumbling the (already dilatory) rhythms instead; nevertheless, they could fit in on any forward-thinking dance floor.  The pseudo-Balearic “Psycho City”, a heavily rearranged cover of former Sub Pop executive Rich Jensen’s obscure cassette track “Voodoo City”, defines imponderability—it’s good, but something is way off, impeding the song from reaching the contemporary classic status it is a hair away from attaining. Perhaps it is the annoying “click” rhythm (cribbed from an R. Kelly album) or Evans’s tuneless vocals, but See Mystery Lights is a portrait of a band in metamorphosis, with a defining statement still to come.

REVIEWED BY SEAN MURPHY
SEAN'S FAVORITE TRACKS: "Psychic City" • "Summer Song" • "I'm In Love With A Ripper"
Read more by Sean Murphy on his blog, Brooklyn Music