Cool It Down

Album review

After nearly a decade out of the game as a band, Yeah Yeah Yeahs return showing signs of growth and armed with real surprises. Ballad "Lovebomb," with its spoken-word verses and spacey landscape, is pure chill-out music—a seeming oxymoron to classic songs like "Zero," "Heads Will Roll," "Bang" and even their high-octane hit "Maps." And while they have long made raw dance-rock, "Wolf" is slick with heavily baroque synth and flashy '80s rhythm. Frontwoman Karen O sets the tone immediately from the first line: "I'm hungry like a wolf," she sings, though the track has more in common with Duran Duran's atmospheric self-titled debut than the sheen of Rio. There are also references to the good old bad days of downtown NYC—the ones that previously influenced the YYYs' 2000s era. The album takes its name from a 1970 Velvet Underground deep cut, and the super-sinuous "Fleez" combines Blondie's "Rapture" rap-speak with hard-edged melodies and flashpoint drums. O has said that first single "Spitting Off the Edge of the World," meanwhile, is her attempt to evoke David Bowie. It's a good one: a big, grand, elegant synth-heavy power ballad and duet with Perfume Genius' Mike Hadreas. The song also, in a way, references the YYYs' own past. When the band started around 20 years ago, O was known for her wild stage presence and especially her signature move of spitting beer onto the crowd in a glorious arc. (In fact, the lyrics are about trying to explain the horrors of climate change to her young son, and—surprise again—coming away with a sense of hope.) "Burning" is a piano drama about a night in the late '90s when O left a candle burning and accidentally set a fire in her apartment; it demolished much of her stuff but, she has said, "mysteriously" left some of her most beloved belongings unharmed: "I had photos of my parents in their youth where the fire burnt around the two of them as if there was some intangible force field protecting them." She added, "If the world is on fire I hope the most beloved stay protected and that we do all we can to protect what we cherish most in this life." The band encourages that with scuzzed-out guitar, showy '70s R&B strings and a nod to Frankie Valli's "Beggin'" (the same song that made Måneskin famous). Sunny and upbeat, "Different Today" shows Nick Zinner's unmistakable guitar is now more punchy and less spiked. And "Mars" is yet another spoken-word interlude, finding O in a reflectiive mood about her life and the world. With just 8 songs, Cool It Down clocks in at barely over 30 minutes; as always, the band knows how to leave fans wanting more. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz