All Hour Cymbals

This Booklyn quartet begin their debut album with a track that only hints at the treasures within.  “Sunrise” appropriately reveals the band’s true colors slowly and majestically, with a single piano chord and a stripped down drum/percussion track giving way to Chris Keating’s pinched vocals, which are lifted and filled out by synth swooshes, cow bell, layers of backing vocals and handclaps. “Hmm,” you may think. “Indie rock with a slight world music flavoring. Nice.” By the time you’ve made it to the middle of the album, it’s pretty obvious you’ve got it backwards. This is global music, created with an indie-rock sensibility. “Worms” sounds like it was conceived in a Bedouin tent, while “Red Cave” sounds more Celtic in origin with its acoustic guitars and churchly vocal chorus. “Wintertime” is the surprise sweet spot:  delicate keyboards and cymbals, twinkling like stars, suddenly burst into a tribal swirl of echoing, psychedelic guitars, and vocals that are more chanted than sung. Yeasayer’s appreciation of Eastern and African music is clear, and their effort to blend a variety of contemporary and traditional music styles into something that doesn’t feel manufactured or patently false is not only an achievement, but something to celebrate.