Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals (11 tracks) +Album Reviews

"It's a new year... The future I was born into"

Kevin Satterwhite | Houston, TX United States | 10/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You know, writing about music, for me, is usually easy, but I have been sitting here for fifteen minutes figuring out how I can describe Yeasayers first album "All Hour Cymbals" with no avail. If I wanted to sum them up in one word it would be experimental, which as a label always grabs my attention. If someone asked me to detail that, I would have to say they are best described in one breath as: spiritual/dreamy/atmospheric/experimental indie electronic/gospel/folk/pop/rock. Deciding how to describe their sound is difficult. However, enjoying the product of their eccentric-ness is easier than pressing play on my player.

The album starts off in dramatic fashion with "Sunshine," one of two songs released as a single. The other song being "2028," both are different beasts entirely as well as the best of show. "Sunshine" is a track that features Yeasayers at their dreamy best. The pounding drums, the clacking sticks, pianos, synths and eclectic-gospel "wooing" is a recipe for conjuring pure magic.

"2028," the other 'best of show' starts off with muffled pounding drums, followed shortly by another dreamy melody, this time by an electric guitar; and a lovely piano melody follows shortly after that. The vocals are stellar on this track.

The rest of the album is no slacker. There are other stand out tracks. "Wait For The Summer" is a good pop song. It starts off like a dreamy Beatles track with a kind of chanting vocals and what I can only guess is a seetar (an Indian string instrument). The synths on this one are great. "Germs" starts off quiet but picks up when the drum and accordion are introduced. From that moment, the song moves from atmospheric to hypnotizing. "Worms" is such a peaceful, relaxed track. The falsetto chorus of it is soothing. "Final Path" sounds a bit like an 80s goth rock song and is one of my personal favorites.

There are other songs worth mentioning. However, I will leave the rest for you to review. I merely offer a guiding hand, if you will, introducing this new entry into the world of indie experimentalism. Fans of The Arcade Fire, Menomena, experimentalism, later Animal Collective, The Cure, dreamy pop, The Twilight Sad and good sounds in general should heed my words and capitalize from the collection of this wonderful album."

Album of the Year

Felix Matathias | Manhattan, NY, USA | 11/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is no question about it. I am a huge Radiohead fun and was expecting the new album with great anticipation. Nevertheless more than a month after its release I find myself listening to "All Hour Cymbals" repeatedly instead of "In Rainbows". The same with Arcade's Fire "Neon Album" which I also had at the top of my list for 2007. The same with the LCD Soundystem album and the Nationals's album, other strong contenders. Nothing compares to this album. It is new, unique, strange, classy, mysterious, melodic. Definitely album of the year for me."

Brilliant Debut Album

David Z. Robertson | Sao Paulo, Brazil | 10/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I caught the Yeasayer live in DC and it was great show. I think the album definitely lives up to the live rendition.

How to classify? Difficult, but I would say smoothly transitioned "experimental", landscaped indie rock with a twinges of international influences (Persian comes to mind). I also hear progressive and 80s influences. Sometimes experimental is can be often awkward, but this album fuses different sounds and layers together brilliantly.

This album reminds me of The Earlies debut; however a bit more upbeat and less produced.

Very, very cool album and I would highly recommend."

Newly Classical

The Goocat | Just over there to the right | 06/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Have you ever wanted to learn what it would be like to travel as a Bedouin Spice Trader? Well, Yeasayer's "All Hour Cymbals" won't help you do that but it'll FEEL like it is and isn't that what really matters most?

They use all kind of crazy instruments here to reproduce a sound that's predominantly middle-eastern and infinitely funky. I think my friend Gary said they sometimes use this kind of guitar that somebody sits on. Crazy. They also use these drums that sound like somebody's name...what was it? Roy-roy's? No. Bob-bob's? Nah. ..I got it: bongo's!

This album is one of the best of the year so far. Just like my first wife's decaying corpse, it refuses to be put away. I find myself craving it if I go more than a day without. It's alternatively cool and relaxing, then quick and pounding; mostly, it's a fast friend who makes such a big impact in such a short time that you openly wonder how you got along before their arrival.

Personal favorites: Sunrise (beat-heavy, notifies you of their arrival, gets you moving); Wait for the Wintertime (tremendously kinetic, epic adventure across a continent); 2080 (his plaintive voice is trying to tell a story but who's got time to listen?); Wait for the Summer (walking through the market); Worms (an old man tells you a story & belly dancers seduce you as you're robbed - wake up!!).

Great for hoedowns and cataclysms."

Say Yes to Yeasayer

S. W. Rose | Paris, France | 03/30/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hey, remember the days when albums gave birth to singles and not vice versa? Let alone, when musicians gathered all their wits and created cohesive albums, albums with concept, albums like a journey? I don't know, The Beatles' White Album comes to mind where the songs are interwoven and placed carefully and deliberately in between, before and after and you start thinking about transitions, you look back at it as a collective experience. Like others have mentioned, there is no way to categorize Yeasayer. I'd say that each member of the band adds their own magic touch to the tracks and their diverse experiences collide (positively of course). I wouldn't say there is a frontman because each of them plays a pivotal role...and this joy of music making, of togetherness resonates in the album and definitely on stage. A must-see live; you'll never leave a concert feeling so good, so inspired. I suppose the most appropriate categorization I've seen for this band is simply "world," because it is humble, inspired, sometimes folky, definitely rhythmic, and there are elements of that~ somewhere on this dusty planet people don't have enough food and water but they sure as hell have music....I suppose that is how I'd summarize "world" and thus, Yeasayer."

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