After the elegant, introspective romantic narratives of
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
and the beautifully crafted but restrained
pop
textures of
Summer Sun
, it was hard not to wonder if
Yo La Tengo
was ever going to turn up the amps and let
Ira Kaplan
go nuts on guitar again. For more than a few fans
"Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind,"
the opening cut from
YLT
's 2006 album
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
, will feel like the reassuring sound of a homecoming -- ten minutes of noisy six-string freak-out, with
James McNew
's thick, malleable basslines and
Georgia Hubley
's simple but subtly funky drumming providing a rock-solid framework for
Kaplan
's enthusiastic fret abuse. After the thematic and sonic consistency of their previous two major albums,
I Am Not Afraid
marks a return to the joyous eclecticism of 1997's
I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
, though nearly ten years down the road
sounds noticeably more confident in their embrace of different styles and less hesitant in their technique on this album -- even
's gloriously unkempt guitar solos start to suggest a certain degree of well-earned professionalism. The songs also sound a shade less playful and more disciplined, though the group's ability to bring their distinct personality to so many different styles attests to their continuing love of this music and the quiet strength of their vision -- the neo-
Byrds
-ian
psychedelia
of
"The Race Is on Again,"
the homey horn-punctuated
"Beanbag Chair,"
the plaintive
folk-rock
on
"Black Flowers,"
the aggressive Farfisa-fueled minimalisms of
"The Room Got Heavy,"
and
"Daphina,"
which suggests a
John Fahey
track transcribed to piano and then used as the root for a eight-minute exercise in low-key atmospherics, all function on a different level and each one satisfies. What's both engaging and impressive about
is that, as usual, these 15 songs always end up sounding like
, whether they're upbeat
guitar pop
or dense loop-based drones, and if there's a bit less childlike elan here than in the past, there's also an intelligence and joy that confirms
is still one of the great treasures of American
indie rock
, and they haven't run out of ideas or the desire to make them flesh in the studio just yet. ~ Mark Deming