FEVER TO TELL is the debut album by american rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released 2003. Amidst the garage rock revival pioneered by bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes, do the Yeah Yeah Yeahs make enough of their own sound to stand out?
The YYYs are a group that I've been mildly aware of for a good while- not from just the general meta around rock music post 2000, but also thanks to whomever their number 1 fan in the youtube algorithm control centre is- if you spend enough time listening to guitar music on youtube you probably would've caught onto this band. The band have proven themselves to be more than capable of producing singles, so how do they hold up in an album context?
The record opens up with this jagged synth line and drums before lead vocalist Karen O joins in with her sultry vocal delivery; I'm definitely not the first to exclaim the absolutely fantastic vocal delivery on this record. O's vocal tone is playful and energetic and dripping with raw sexual energy- towards the end of verses she'll forgo words entirely to just shriek over the dirty guitar and pounding drum lines. And this is all in the first track.
The energy of the record only climbs throughout the first half- the guitar groove in the second track excellently leads into these cacophonous drum vs. vocal screaming matches, the entire thing has an absurdly infectious energy, it's fucking relentless, and again Karen O's vocal presence is just undeniable. MAN and RICH forms this perfect pair of high energy sub 2 minute ragers, BLACK TONGUE has these pummelling waves of guitar against O's gender bent "Boy you just a stupid bitch//And girl you just a no good dick"
PIN turns the energy down for it's intro before it's chorus reintroduces a massive guitar sounds- but the quieter verses hint at an introspection explored later in the album. COLD LIGHT has almost a blue-sy feel to it in between impossibly louder guitars as O narrates more fucking (including the non isolated reference to incest) with a desperate undercurrent: "I'd rather die than hear goodbye".
NO NO NO kicks off the second half of the record as well as being the longest track at 5 minutes 14. It's got a pretty expected guitar/drums/vocals run for the main body, but the last 2 minutes have this dark ambient, delay riddled, haunting passage that almost feeling like O's devil-may-care attitude and lifestyle catching up with her, with the track fading to layers of echoing ambiance.
After this we get the record's huge single, MAPS. Karen's vocals after paired back. and demonstrate an emotional intellegence and depth not thus far given a chance to shine thru under the albums breakneck pace as she croons "wait, they don't love you like I love you", and it wouldn't be fitting by this point on the album to not have some huge guitars somewhere on the track. Which this, of course does. Great track!
The track is followed by the twisted Y CONTROL, featuring a similar synth-y riff at the start, and this narcotic guitar riff before the chorus comes in, tied with the instantly memorable "I wish I could buy back, the woman you stole".
MODERN ROMANCE starts off on this contemplative guitar line and forlorn drum beat, and O at her most pessimistic lyrically- "There is no modern romance". The track feels like a wake up call to herself, the whole thing is absolutely dour, especially with these reverse guitar samples in the background.
After a minute of silence the band surprises with another slow jam in POOR SONG- the track has O's vocals right up front with the rest of the band in the back room as she reveals this devotional ballad to play the record out.
So FEVER TO TELL is far from a straight forward rock album- despite containing elements that could make it that, the band brings both volatile energy and nuanced songwriting across the tracks, paying respect to plenty of musical genres on the way. Check it out!
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