(Mute/Spunk/EMI)

The next big thing for the American Apparel set

You probably didn’t hear it here first, owing to the obscene amount of coverage this album has already generated, but Yeasayer’s Odd Blood is totally poised to become 2010’s Oracular Spectacular. They already have the prerequisites lined up: viral first single (Triple J favourite Ambling Alp), some high-profile recent collaborations (with Bat For Lashes and Simian Mobile Disco), and a position on a trend-capturing compilation album (last year’s AIDS benefit compilation Dark Was The Night). Odd Blood even features two of 2009’s hottest indie tropes: a bewildering and eye-scorching psychedelic cover, and a lead single with a NSFW nudity video. Lead single Ambling Alp certainly has the hooks for, and singer Chris Keating has the pipes for, pop chart success (even if it’s a little OTT – do we really need those sax and organ solos?). Other tracks don’t fare as well: Madder Red sounds lovely as it’s playing, but you won’t remember it by the end of the album, while opener The Children feels like filler. About halfway through the album starts hitting its stride with calypso-funk number O.N.E. and piano-filled rave-up Love Me Girl, and it ends on a high note with Grizelda, one of the few sincere tracks on what is otherwise a sneeringly ironic album. Odd Blood is a disjointed beast of an album with some great highlights; it won’t be enough to parlay Yeasayer’s current fame into long-term success, but it promises enough to make their next album an exciting prospect, too.

***½

CHAD PARKHILL

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