Yeah Yeah Yeahs adapt sound on It's Blitz!

The addition of a synth gives the band's sound a new, unique quality.

By Katie Currid

Published March 2, 2009

Oftentimes bands will change their image, either transforming their looks, sound, lyrical content or all of the above. Sometimes this does not pay off, as with New Kids on the Block, Vanilla Ice, Hanson or Prince.

Other times, these transformations will be well thought out, helping the band expand its audience and reach new heights in music history and on the charts. Although this seldom occurs, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have pulled their own difficult makeover with the album, It's Blitz!

It's Blitz! does not sound like past Yeah Yeah Yeahs albums, though Karen O's voice helps with the confusing renovation. The use of vintage synth, something absent on albums past, drastically changes the sound and allows the band to appeal to an audience different than that of Show Your Bones while still retaining the same kind of sound that put the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the map. Blitz!, overall, is good, though it does leave some yearning for the days of "Gold Lion" and "Cheated Hearts."

The best track on the album is the single "Zero," a fast-paced techno-fabulous song that is obnoxiously catchy and easy to appreciate. As the first track on the album, it prefaces the rest of Blitz! well, easing Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans into its new experimental sound. "Hysteric" is also a mellow song, much like the rest of the album, and is one of the album's best. Its soothing lyrics will make the heart melt with the repeated line, "You suddenly complete me" singing over the crooning background vocals.

Along with mixed electronica and Karen O's intense vocals are some eclectic lyrics. The track "Heads Will Roll" sounds like an ode to the Queen of Hearts from "Alice in Wonderland" with lyrics shouting, "Off with your head/Dance 'til you're dead/Heads will roll/on the floor." Although sometimes the lyrics are nonsensical or the vocals are indiscernible, heads will continue to bob to other intense tracks, such as "Dragon Queen" and "Shame and Fortune."

Although the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have changed their sound, it is by no means a change to cater to more easy listening alternative pop with no underlying meaning or thought-out sounds. Their sound still retains everything the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were, only adding the extra synth element. Blitz! could be compared to the sounds of the band Metric, with its girl vocals, guitar riffs and electronic-infused beats that don't necessarily overpower the music. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have also slowed down their sound, with less pounding ballads and more flowing songs that sound vaguely like Tegan and Sara.

Even though It's Blitz! might disappoint some older Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans, the album will become an alternative staple that caters to the more electronic popular music. Even though It's Blitz! is not as strong as its predecessor, Show Your Bones and although the band is taking a step in a different direction, it takes a solid step, making changes that will, without a doubt, pay off in the end.