Yeasayer - Amen & Goodbye

Swaggering onto our radio waves back in 2010 with the excellent Ambling Alp, Yeasayer have been delivering great quality, non-chart-bothering pop music from that beating heart of independent music, Brooklyn, ever since.

Lush strings pull us in on the intro Daughters of Cain, and set us up for a journey into Yeasayer’s landscape. I Am Chemistry is a fine piece of ‘everything including the kitchen sink’ song writing, an imaginative blend of studio craft and creativity woven together. They just make very good indie pop music, unafraid of borrowing from what they love but put their own stamp firmly upon it. Dead Sea Scrolls could be Duran Duran remixed by Sufjan Stevens, and who doesn’t want a bit of that? There are three short tracks that act as pallet cleansers, as hip hop uses skits, and this kind of individuality is as charming as it is refreshing. On Uma Chris Keating sings “Find your own way to rebel, and you can laugh at yourself” amid piano and theremin, and that is the lesson here; do it your own way or it won’t be sincere.

Coming in at just under 40 minutes, Amen & Goodbye gives us a that old fashioned pleasure of listening to an album that takes the artists forward while delivering music with passion and flair, sparkling with nuggets of insight.