It’s a rare thing for bands to release album number 13. Not because of any form of superstition, but because most have disbanded well before their discography enters double digits. Not indie rock stalwarts Yo La Tengo however, as even in their 29th year, they’re still churning out tunes. Even rarer, those tunes are still good.
Fade is the New Jerseyites’ latest full length album and their first with producer John McEntire (who has previously worked with other cult favourites Tortoise and Bright Eyes). The album opens with the instantly catchy and engaging ‘Ohm’, a breezy and tranquil song that chugs along to the sounds of the accompanying delicate organ notes and fuzzy guitar playing. At close to seven minutes the song fades out, with frontman and guitarist Ira Kaplan sharing vocals with drummer/Kaplan’s wife, Georgia Hubley, together continuously murmuring ‘cause it’s been fun’.
‘Is That Enough’ is equally accessible, at first sounding deceptively like a standard, pleasant enough indie rock song with Kaplan musing over Hubley’s coos, but the layering of strings adds a dimension to the song which takes it from being in simply ‘nice’ territory to being a strong, stand out track.
A solid, confident drum beat drives ‘Well You Better’, with sweet keyboard sounds joining in to create a lovely piece of straightforward guitar pop. ‘Paddle Forward’ is less twee but equally enjoyable in a far more subdued and distortion heavy fashion, and creates a logical path to the mellow ‘Stupid Things’ and the delicate ‘I’ll Be Around’.
Hubrey takes lead vocal duties on the enigmatic ‘Cornelia and Jane’ with James McNew’s bass playing duly highlighted as Hubrey’s soft voice weaves in and out. ‘Two Trains’, perhaps suffering from the fate of being put directly after numerous slow paced songs, isn’t very memorable, nor is ‘The Point Of It’, for the same reasons. Luckily Fade ends with the wonderful ‘Before We Run’, a horns and strings heavy number, which injects some refreshing life back into the record.
Despite the lull three-quarters of the way in, overall Yo La Tengo have released an immediately palatable and endearing album that old-school fans (anyone who cottoned on to the band’s greatness in the 90s has permission to be smug), newer fans, as well as those completely unaware of the band’s back catalogue, can savour equally.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Fade
Yo La Tengo
Out now through Matador/Remote Control
