Be Not Afraid: Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo are a global institution in the music world. The band defies classification, drifting through styles and genres like they invented ‘em. The trio refuses categorization, preferring to inhabit the space of the unknown. They’ve fashioned yet another remarkable collection of boundless tracks, producing record number 5,243, ‘I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Yo Ass’, perhaps the most accessible and brilliant work in their decade-spanning career.

James McNew is the epitome of New Jersey geek chic. The bass player, together with husband and wife Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley, converge to produce a disturbingly perfect soundscape. The band has stopped off in London, fresh from the Primavera festival. McNew is not a festival goer by any means, but did enjoy Primavera, mainly because he saw several amazing bands, but also because the trio could give their new material its first live outing.

McNew felt there was a surprisingly positive response from the audience to the band’s new tracks. “Playing previous tours in support of new records has always been difficult. I know when I see a band and hear new songs it’s difficult, I understand, but I keep that in mind when I’m on the other side,” he says. “It felt great to play the new stuff. We’ve been working in secret for what feels like a year. It was nice to let it out and do it in front of people and they could react right away. It was great, I was really happy.”

The new material flits between the playfully cheesy, trumpet-driven lounge jazz of ‘Mr Tough’ through Ramones-esque punk, to the sweet, piano driven synth peppered heartbreak of ‘Black Flowers’. The fantastically titled ‘I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Yo’ Ass’ flows through the full spectrum of aural colours, and the band are excited by it.

“It has a lot of our personality in it,” says McNew of the new record. “We’re huge fans of music, we listen to all different kinds of music. Everything that’s on our records and in the music that we play comes from somewhere, it comes from something that we like and sometimes it chooses to show up whenever it chooses to show up. I think that maybe on this record we just got a little bolder about letting them show up.”

Yo La Tengo are collectively possessed by some sort of art-rock demon, propelling them to unashamedly spread their creative wings. Between recording a fantastic collection of new songs, that will inevitably cement themselves as fan faves in time, the band has been raising money for charity, organising Hanukah concerts, scoring three movies including a Cannes-debuted film about oceanic creatures drifting through dreamlike seascapes, touring, and being, well, just generally mega-cool.