Monday 05/07/10 Yeasayer, Clock Opera @ The Junction, Cambridge

It would be a tough task to find a more appropriate band to open for Yeasayer than Clock Opera. Lovers of disjointed melodies, synthesised squiggles and the sound of bits of metal being banged together in syncopated rhythm – or to give them their shortened name, Yeasayer fans – found plenty to appreciate in a short but fully-charged warm-up set, and doubtless the computers of Cambridge University were hard at work the following day scouring the internet for more Clock Opera material. Job done.

Yeasayer’s stage backdrop will find few more effective homes than The
Junction. This wide cavern of a room has the stage right at its heart, meaning no matter where you stand you feel thrust in amongst the action, the Brooklyn band’s cocoon of white drapes giving the impression of a super-magnified electric Punch and Judy show in which you are the front row spectator. The start is solid enough, every synth bleep and delayed echo – and there are plenty of them – ringing crisply out as they kick off with latest album opener ‘The Children’, followed by ‘Wait For The Summer’ from the first record.

However, it’s when they combine their brand of warped world music with
some stand-out melody that Yeasayer really shine, and it’s during the nigh-on-pop ballad ‘I Remember’, with its three part vocal harmonies and tinklingly descending synth riff, that things really begin to lift off.

Fair trade activists might have a word or two to say about the far-eastern
sweatshop attitude to labour, such is the workload demanded of each band member; brilliant bassist Ira Wolf Tuton pulls off a quick bass melody, turns to press a few buttons on his synthesiser, then springs to the microphone for some falsetto backing vocals, all in the space of a few seconds, while on the opposite side of the stage his cousin, guitarist Anand Wilder, pulls his weight with equal freneticism.

A cursory listen through of the band’s two long-players to date can leave
the listener a little disoriented at the strange mêlée of sounds that make up their material, but in this live set Yeasayer are almost a pop anthem band.

The likes of the excellent ‘2080’ and ‘O.N.E’ have the crowd chanting along, arms aloft, while ‘Madder Red’, with the lights switched up to full beam for the vocal intro, feels like the epic finale to some West Side Story-type stage musical. ‘Ambling Alp’, meanwhile, confirms itself as one of the strongest singles of the last 12 months as it takes its rightful place closing the set.

There is a final attempt to reclaim their treasured reputation for oddness
during a noisy segue into ‘Wait For The Wintertime’ in the encore, but by then Cambridge is convinced.