Yesterday we heard the first song from Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ upcoming record, Mosquito. Since we also got a look at that album’s track list, we know that “Sacrilege” will be the album-opener. It’s a soulful pop number, featuring a 24-piece gospel choir and keyboard work by Money Mark (do you guys remember/were you ever aware of Money Mark? He worked on Beastie Boys’ records? And was a big college radio deal for a second?).
The gospel choir outro is the biggest point of interest, clearly, a bit of tongue-in-cheek bombast cementing lyrics which are very definitely about having sex with a literal angel from heaven and feeling conflicted about it. “Fallen for a guy, fell down from the sky. Halo round his head. Feathers in a bed. In our bed.” There’s really no other way to read that.
Listen to “Sacrilege” here, and then we’ll discuss:
What do you think? It’s growing on me. The idea, lyrics, melodies, etc., seemed a little thin on first listen, and still sort of do. Karen O sings in both her growly megaphone rocker mode, and her dreamy ballad mode, which is nice. But it’s all hung on a concept that’s not very well developed, or even very evocative. Certainly not shocking. When the gospel choir finally kicks in, it does get kinda old-timey rock n’ roll concept album and that’s not a bad move for YYYs. I’ve always been a fan, but I’m not sure they’ve ever put together a truly great, grandiose album? As nostalgic a soft spot as I have for it, Fever to Tell has at least a couple clunkers. Show Your Bones and It’s Blitz! are too spotty and too sleepy respectively. (The Is Is EP is kinda great, though, right?) So if they want to go BIG, I’m all for it. But, paired with that eye-bleeding cover art, and goofy sounding tangents like the announced James Murphy/Dr. Octagon track, it’s all starting to feel less grand and more rando?
Another point of initial disappointment is that we to continue to wait for the long-awaited return of Nick Zinner just totally shredding. It feels like we’ve been denied that forever! Listening again, that clean and wiggly hook he adds about a minute in is actually pretty sticky and cool. If he wants to give us the prowess without the power for a song or two, I can respect that. I just have a deep longing for him to knock me out of my chair again. Please, Zinner. Please.
Mosquito is released April 16th, via Interscope.