The new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album cover features Karen O’s arm outstretched, veins erupting. She has just shattered an egg with her clinched hand, the lucid yolk and splintered shell splattering across the gray frame. No words, just that instantly classic image. I can’t think of anything more punk: violent and ugly. Even the album title alone screams anger. What I expected was the hardest Yeah Yeah Yeahs album yet, instead what I got was the ol’ bait and switch; I am far from disappointed.
Much more pop rock than raw angst, the YYYs show that sometimes the best solution is to dance it out. With this album as proof, I cannot help but agree. The album suffers through a lag here and there, but they always manage to pull you right back in.
The instant earworm “Zero” kicks off the album; it’s a grunge-infused disco anthem with Karen O’s signature raw, shimmering vocals helming the reigns. “Zero” gives way to “Heads Will Roll,” the best Gwen Stefani song she never wrote, and the low key, dripping “Softshock,” sounding as though it was recorded in an Antarctic CBGBs. The slow marching “Skeletons” and delicate “Runaway” show just how vulnerable Karen O can be. Then “Dull Life” reminds you just how badly she would kick your ass.
The YYYs have, and always will be, all about Karen O. As talented as Brian Chase and Nick Zinner are, their job is to provide a strong backdrop to Karen O’s Mona Lisa. The most notorious front-woman in rock today, she is what any female musician should aspire to be: beautiful, edgy, and powerful.
Sure, the album is not what you anticipate, but nothing is more punk than the unexpected. Perhaps Karen O smashing a glowstick would have been more appropriate, but maybe the YYYs are just saving that for the remix.
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