Music Box | Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Mike Newmark Assistant Arts Editor

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Show Your Bones
[Interscope]
2.5 out of 5 stars

If you’re curious to know how Show Your Bones compares to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ debut Fever to Tell, just look at their album covers. Fever to Tell’s was a self-conscious mess, with the band members standing amid colorful streaks like paint splattered onto an ex-boyfriend’s car. Show Your Bones’ cover is considerably tidier. The old album colors have been narrowed to three, and have coalesced into a clean insignia suitable for a flag or a varsity jacket. The album’s title is telling as well: here, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs pare themselves down to their essence, revealing a flimsy skeleton under all the stylized meat.

Without a doubt, Fever to Tell’s greatest asset was its attitude. Led by spunkier-than-hell vocalist Karen O. (a mixture of YaSuKo O., Kathleen Hanna, and early-career Gwen Stefani), the Yeah Yeah Yeahs spouted enough nervy energy and riot grrrl sass on Fever to Tell for three albums. That was fine then, but the sparser, more polite Show Your Bones has only a fraction of Fever’s attitude while failing to up the ante lyrically, leaving the album curiously flat.

This is a pity, because the Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound mainly the same; they’ve just become a chloroformed, lackadaisical version of themselves. They’ve also stripped away much of the stylistic touches that were the substance of Fever to Tell; no feedback squalls or throat-shredding screams here, aside from the misguided wad of rockabilly that is “Mysteries.” Nick Zinner’s guitar doesn’t cut so much as lightly shove, and Karen O. scraps her hybrid sing-shriek-purr in favor of a muted belt that lumps the once-distinctive vocalist with the umpteen female singers of today. All of this is complemented by slower tempos, exemplified by the well-oiled trudge of “Fancy.”

There’s nothing wrong with slow tempos and good manners, but it does leave the door open for some strong songwriting—a gap that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs struggle to fill. As groovy as their single “Gold Lion” is, it’s hard not to wish that it were faster and brawnier, or offered lyrics more inspired than “Tell me what you saw / I’ll tell you what to ooh ooh.” Karen O. sings in circles, belting words that go nowhere and mean nothing, as though the car of her lyrical muse were jammed in neutral.

For a band that named itself after a Bikini Kill 12”, it’s surprising that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have neutered their sound after only two LPs. Perhaps they felt that their cattiness was an act and that it was high time to drop it, or perhaps they took a cue from the success of their maudlin hit, “Maps.” In any case, one thing is certain: a stripped-down Yeah Yeah Yeahs isn’t much fun, despite Show Your Bones’ handful of decent songs. What I really miss are the band’s blistering moments, when it’s difficult to resist breaking out the air-guitar and shouting “Yeah, yeah, yeah!”