Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Mosquito” digresses from norm

By Jake Mahr
Arts Editor

New York City alternative rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs released its debut album, “Fever to Tell,” in 2003. Since then, the group has been maintaining constant forward momentum and evolution. However, its most recent release, “Mosquito,” seems to be the band’s first fall back despite some noteworthy tracks.

While “Mosquito” starts strong with its first couple songs, the album rapidly deteriorates and noticeably lacks smooth flow and cohesion between tracks. Although there is some experimentation, the group shows little strive to create something that is truly progressive.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs was formed in 2000 by Karen O (vocals, piano), Nick Zinner (keyboards, guitar) and Brian Chase (drums). After “Fever to Tell,” the members released “Show Your Bones” in 2006 and “It’s Blitz!” in 2009, both of which attained critical and commercial success.

Unfortunately, with three acclaimed albums already under its belt, Yeah Yeah Yeahs seems to have stalled creatively with this latest release. The main fault in “Mosquito” comes from the mismatched track listing. The album sounds as if randomly chosen songs were just thrown together with no particular order or theme in mind, making it a mess.

For example, album opener, “Sacrilege,” is a fiery jam that concludes with a gospel choir. This is followed by “Subway,” which, although still a standout in the album, is contradictingly one of the softest, most somber songs Yeah Yeah Yeahs has ever released. Furthermore, “Subway” is followed by the title track which brings back an energized and screaming Karen O. The first three tracks of the album create an atmosphere with such an array of emotions that they easily become confused and unsettled.

Listened to one at a time, some of the tracks do stand out, though, most notably the last two tracks, “Despair” and “Wedding Song.” These final tracks draw from Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ edgy, punk roots and bring into mind some of their previous songs, especially “Maps” from “Fever to Tell.” The tracks create a needed simplicity and get rid of all the distractions heard on the other songs.

Unfortunately, there are some songs on “Mosquito” that disprove the band’s potential. This is especially true for the song “Area 52.” It consists of Karen O’s vocals, which are uncharacteristically bland, sung on top of the background guitar, drums and synths, which all blend together to form an undistinguishable solid block of noise and overpower the vocals by the end of the song.

Although much of “Mosquito” is nothing compared to Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ past work, the band makes it clear that it is certainly not afraid to experiment. Whether it be as simple as a train sample used in “Subway” or the vocal distortion used in “These Paths” (think Purity Ring minus the ominous vibe), Yeah Yeah Yeahs is obviously trying to make something different.

All in all, “Mosquito” is a sad attempt from Yeah Yeah Yeahs and, despite the band’s efforts, the members aren’t able to produce a notable album.