Yeasayer – London Heaven
Yeasayer
February 23, 2010
In Heaven, not everything is fine. The beer tastes like ass, and the men’s toilets smell worse than ass. But ass isn’t important here, not tonight anyway, because the sound at least is near divine.
There’s a hell of a lot of people, a varied grouping at that. Not surprising given the fervent hysteria Yeasayer’s Odd Blood is currently stirring among the music press. If All Hour Cymbals was Dad’s little folk secret, Odd Blood is the electro-psychedelic party music for da yoof, and all have gathered this evening.
Yeasayer’s support comes from fellow Brooklyn twosome Javelin. Their set is accompanied by an ’80s movie montage of assorted promo videos featuring Casio keyboard demos, tennis lessons with a mulleted Andre Agassi and BMX biker clips. Javelin’s synth and drum pad shtick provides quite the novelty soundtrack, and while I’m sure this ironic gimmickry goes down a storm in Brooklyn, here the 80s was an achromatic time, and the two dimensional songs do little to stir an attentive audience now cramming into the vault of Heaven. It’s the curse of the support act. In their defence, Javelin play with genuine moxie that keeps the audience captivated. But that’s not why we’re here.
Lights dim and Yeasayer take the stage to rapture and an array of colour. Opening with stomper ‘The Children’, they go on to play mostly new songs. What strikes me is how comfortably they play live. The harmonies on ‘Madder Red’ are so precise I question their authenticity, but it’s real. ‘Tightrope’ is played a little slower than usual, but the band displays confidence and emotion. The blissful cascading airy synths and pulsing bass of ‘I Remember’ fill the cavern with awe. Chris Keating is note perfect, his voice breaking for the “woah-oh” with ease and genuinely moving sentiment.
I’d like to say that the once po-face performers have loosened up live, given the celebratory nature of many of their news songs, but I’d be lying. Keating is most deft, gesticulating, flicking his fingers, cutting lines with the edge of his hand and flitting around his allocated spot. Elsewhere bassist Ira Wolf Tuton rocks casually; Anand Wilder – despite his stints on vocals and rather fetching boiler suit attire – remains largely stationary. Again, unimportant details considering the brilliant sound they’re making.
Yeasayer’s more rousing numbers find the crowd doing all movement necessary. ‘Love Me Girl’, ‘Rome’, ‘O.N.E’, ‘Mondegreen’ and ‘Ambling Alp’ played in succession toward the end of their set. Where the bass on the ‘Ambling Alp’ recording was somewhat incidental, it carries solidly and transforms the song in to one of the many highlights of the evening. The encore brings relief for the hardcore fans, ending with ‘Grizelda’, ‘Sunrise’ and ‘2080’.
This will be the smallest venue Yeasayer will play. Their disco-tinged pop looks set to be a festival favourite this summer, and if tonight’s performance is a demonstration of their live ability, they’ll be a delight.
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