Yeasayer - MHOW 12.06.08

via Trash For Your Eyes and Ears

After 14 months on the road, Yeasayer wrapped up their tour with two back-to-back nights at Music Hall of Williamsburg. It’d nearly been a year since I had last seen the band at a venue called Shangri-la in Brooklyn. As I mentioned in my intro to the Top Albums of 2008, Yeasayer’s debut album was a favorite of mine in 2007. “Wait for the Summer” is (appropriately) a favorite jam for my long, cold and windy walks to the subway station. Miss you, summer.

As much as I love free open bars at shows, I have to admit that not having that temptation allowed me to pay attention to what Yeasayer was doing on-stage. I was really impressed by the virtuosity of the band members, a huge performance factor that I didn’t pick up on last time. The guitar riffs in “Waves” were executed effortlessly by Anand Wilder (I have a little crush on him – I like his haircut). Ira Wolf Tuton is a bassist who plays his instrument like a good lead guitarist: doing crazy shit all the time. He may be the most active bassist I’ve ever seen live. Also, until this show, I’d completely forgotten that Yeasayer is considered by many to be “experimental” (I now reserve that word for music that I don’t quite fully understand). But, it seems like Yeasayer embraces this genrefication, as they create live versions, with the help of synths, that sound relatively reworked compared to the studio ones.

Yeasayer is back in the studio to work on their second album. See/hear you in six months, Yeasayer!

Wait for the Summer - Yeasayer


Waves - Yeasayer