Fragrant World

Description

While "All Hour Cymbals" (2007) introduced this Brooklyn-formed band on a small scale, it was the furious psychedelia of "Odd Blood" (2010) that helped them gain wider recognition in the United States and Europe. Two years later, it's "Fragant World"'s turn to further solidify Yeasayer's musical wanderings. High-pitched vocals as if under the influence, electronic sounds but often organic orchestration: nothing has changed, deliberately. The band persists in cultivating its experimental garden while decorating it with certain pop effects. There's no question of being inaccessible despite a most ethereal atmosphere. And despite a mischievous pleasure in blurring the listener's tracks with numerous variations in themes and rhythms... There are beautiful surprises such as the unexpected strings of "Longevity", potential hits like "Blue Paper" or the cosmic "Henrietta", passages in troubled waters such as the hypnotic "Demon Road" or the danceable "Damaged Goods". Gliding over the album with lightness but conviction, Chris Keating asserts himself as a singular singer, or even better, as a kind of guru. Is this third album Yeasayer's best? Tastes and colors (ever-changing, psychedelia obliges) are not to be debated. On the other hand, Yeasayer now manages to sustain an entire album, which was not really the case before. Showing solid construction, the fragmented and multi-referenced "Fragant World" flows with an almost mystical logic. A nice performance. Sophie Rosemont - Copyright 2017 Music Story