Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Mosquito (Interscope / Universal)

Subway (NOLA Demo)

Released: Now

- Mosquito is the fourth album from New York phenomenon (…) Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Mosquito comes at a time where Yeah Yeah Yeahs are now quite the common household name. With Fever to Tell they showed the world something new, yet familiar and then followed it up with Show Your Bones which revolutionised the band's formula again, and proved to be a timeless record by blending delicacy, pop songwriting and angsty punk. A few years later Its Blitz came and it was the group's most radical transformation with instrumentation moving towards the electronic spectrum. Karen O by then had very much affirmed her status as alternative goddess of cool, with a simple KO jacket in the video clip for Zero. Now we have Mosquito, which is nothing overly new or impressive. Overall it isn't a bad record in the grand scheme of things, it is just a bad Yeah Yeah Yeahs record.

The problem with Mosquito is that is about as middle of the road as you can get in almost every regard. The two singles Sacrilege and Mosquito are OK (but why does Sacrilege have a gospel choir tacked on towards the end?) and do their job as a decent representation of the record but in comparison to previous monster singles such as Gold Lion and Bang! they don't come near the mark. 

Across the board there are various unnecessary additions. On perhaps the record's best track Subway, the beauty of the track is overcrowded with a ridiculous sample of a sample of a subway train going across tracks providing the percussive drive. Also on one of the most anticipated tracks on on the record Buried Alive (which features none other than left-field hiphop great Dr. Octagon aka the deeply pervy Kool Keith) the addition of Octagon's verse sits so oddly in the mix with little to no flow or context in the track, it just makes the track sound all the more broken. 

The production in general just sits in a weird realm and doesn't feel natural - especially within the Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound, which is insanely odd, considering behind the boards was LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy and TV on the Radio's Dave Stiek and Nick Launay who have both had these credits throughout the band's career. In some parts it works, namely Nick Zinner's guitar throughout. Brian Chase's amazing drumming always feels buried far too low in the mix, while Karen O's voice seems to consume all - a production plight similar to releases by pop starlets where no one even cares about the rest of the music. 

Karen's lyrics are generally sloppy throughout: on Mosquito she sings the obvious "They'll suck you dry" while on Sacrilege she sings without any obvious meaning, "It's Sacrilege, you say". Area 52 is just a lyrical mess for its three long minutes. She does redeem herself on the rather touching Wedding Song - a track which she sang to her husband on their wedding day. Aww, cute. 

There are some decent moments... Always has a sweet built-in keyboard drum beat and the track in general recalls the slower moments of It's Blitz. Buried Alive, musically is also not that bad, as long as you disregard the ill-fated Dr Octagon appearance. The record's highlight though is without a doubt Subway but on the deluxe version of Mosquito there is, very fortunately, a demo version, which cuts out the wankery and really lets this gem shine. So, if you were to buy this album, shell out for the deluxe as in this rare case the bonus tracks far surpass the actual album which, all-in-all is a terrible shame as Yeah Yeah Yeahs still have a lot of fight in them: a top tier band both live and on record. However, Mosquito as the name of the annoying insect suggests, will suck you dry, but it may also suck a chunk of respect that you had for this group out along with it.    

- Brad Armstrong.