By Samantha Berkhead
Managing Editor
Merriam-Webster defines “sacrilege” as “a technical and not necessarily intrinsically outrageous violation of what is sacred.”
It only makes sense, then, for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to incorporate a gospel choir into “Sacrilege,” the lead single from their latest album, “Mosquito.”
The New York trio has become famous over the last decade for creating paradoxes like this.
The band’s 2003 debut, “Fever To Tell,” was full of sleazy, beer-fueled rockers — but the song “Maps,” one of the best indie love songs of all time, catapulted the band into the spotlight.
Three years later, the band eschewed heavy guitar distortion and raw vocals for a softer sound with “Show Your Bones,” an album that contrasted its sonic softness with a harrowing and visceral emotional palette.
In 2009, frontwoman Karen O became a full-fledged dance floor goddess with the electric “It’s Blitz!” Mere months later, she helped score the soundtrack to “Where The Wild Things Are,” cooing childish melodies to fit the film’s nostalgic tone.
Now, after a four-year wait, the band has given us “Mosquito.” Its frankly awful cover art acts as a brash challenge to fans and newcomers alike — people don’t usually associate CGI babies about to be attacked by larger-than-life mosquitoes with good music.
That said, the album feels like a religious experience for the longtime fan — sacrilege and all.
The title track is every bit as loud, outrageous yet undeniably cool as one would expect from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, full of staccato rhythms and O’s trademark banshee howl.
“Under The Earth” sounds like a sequel to “Down Boy” from 2007’s “Is Is” EP, complete with a one-two march propelled by drummer Brian Chase, whose expertise at keeping guitarist Nick Zinner’s distorted chaos in line is a thing to marvel at. Songs like “Area 52” and “Buried Alive” sound like B-sides from “Fever To Tell” — brash, bratty and anything but easy listening.
Zinner himself takes a step back from the guitar for most of “Mosquito,” instead fleshing out the album’s auditory palette with bizarre yet infectious electronic sounds. It might be strange for any other early-2000s garage rock revival band to go electro, but for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs it feels like a natural progression.
“Mosquito” is filled to the brim with the confidence and swagger of a band that doesn’t have to prove itself to anyone anymore. It doesn’t make huge sonic leaps forward like their previous albums, but it’s still undeniably sexy, fun and one of the best albums so far this year.
Over an infectious groove on “Slave,” Karen O sings “You keep me, you keep me on the throne.”
Let’s face it, she’s been our queen since the day she was born.
