Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Show Your Bones

[4/5] Just as a big hit should, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ omnipresent 2003 single “Maps” made singer Karen O far more famous than any of her New York City rock peers, but it also suggested that the second Yeah Yeah Yeahs album would probably sound nothing like their debut. And it doesn’t. Much of Show Your Bones actually sounds like it was recorded either in a forest or while on drugs. Guitarist Nick Zinner’s furious crescendos are used more sparingly, as in the punk countryish “Mysteries,” while elsewhere he employs some acoustic guitar. As for O’s voice, the punk spasms of earlier releases now sound more eerie–particularly on the Siouxsie Sioux-recalling single “Gold Lion” and “The Sweets,” which could pass for a mid-career Modest Mouse track. A safe bet for their next ubiquitous hit would be the alt-poppy “Cheated Hearts,” but in the end, Show Your Bones is the sort of second album that, rather than being a sophomore slump, makes you anxiously wonder what albums three, four and five will sound like.
(INTERSCOPE) Trevor Kelley