Yeti Lane: Yeti Lane
Yeti Lane: Yeti Lane
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 25, Jan 2010 12:50
Sonic Cathedral, out January 25th.
What's it all about?
Yeti Lane are making waves in 2010 already, with some huge sources (NME, particularly) tipping the band for success. After signing to young label Sonic Cathedral, their debut self-titled effort looks like it could be a great start to their career in the UK and beyond.
Who's it by?
Yeti Lane are a little-known-yet-not-for-long band. They're French, which is exotic, I suppose. Other than that, the three-piece effort was formed off the back of Cyann & Ben, a four-piece on Gooom Disques who released a few folky albums before Cyann quit. As a result, Ben, LoAc and Charlie - the remaining members - made Yeti Lane, signalling a relatively vast departure from their previous style.
What the others say
"Their nomenclature is ideal for describing the harmonious union of cosmic rock with sparkling pop that this enchanting album contains." - NME
"With so many hooks and melodies, riffs and themes running through ten tracks Yeti Lane have produced the first great indie-pop record of 2010." - The Line Of Best Fit
So is it any good?
This self-titled effort is strong to say the least. To repeat the words of other reviewers seems lazy and unoriginal but in truth, the NME is right: Oh, Inverted World, the debut album by the very excellent Shins, is remarkably reflected in the best possible way in this first release from Yeti Lane.
And yet Yeti Lane's influences are so varied that it's hard to really class them as like any one band. Sure, they have a bit of the Shins there, though others which they have highlighted as key to their love of music are also in their sound, such as the Revolver-era Beatles, the Velvet Underground, Pavement, Serge Gainsbourg's landmark album Histoire de Melody Nelson, the Flaming Lips and even Kraftwerk.
Yeti Lane, as an album, is one which surprises at first, slowly winds down over the course of a few songs and then finally hits you with a salvo of great tunes to seal the deal. In this sense, it's one of the few albums which really deserves a full start-to-finish listen before picking and choosing tracks. Dipping into it randomly doesn't quite give you the feel of what they're trying to achieve.
Yet while the offering is, on the whole, pretty damn good, there's a certain vanilla aspect about their songs; in the first half of the album, at least. This is probably the best parallel with The Shins yet; while this is a dislikeable trait for other bands to have, it just suits Yeti Lane, as it does their US counterparts. It always feels like the largely hushed vocals, which are just audible enough over the simplistic yet comforting melodies, are ones of contentment and not sadness, and tell you more during and about the song than you'd immediately assume.
The relaxed approach to their music sometimes feels like Yeti Lane are holding back on giving the listener more - and something that's necessary to make the song click - yet it never happens, and for some reason you don't feel let down. It's one of the strangest feelings to put into words, but it all just works.
Tracks to look out for include Lonesome George, Think It's Done and opener First-Rate Pretender. Lonesome George opens like boss music from a 16-bit videogame before transforming into something altogether more tuneful, while the excellent Think It's Done is Yeti Lane at their Shinny best, knocking out an excellent riff and the right number of minor chords to strike up the perfect sombre-yet-hopeful balance.
First-Rate Pretender is a great opening track too, fusing a relatively miserable guitar melody with a militaristic drum beat, pulling it round to a great refrain and letting the guitar drag itself out of the pit of sadness it's constructed for itself. It leaves you filled with renewed optimism and by the end of the tune, you're more than ready for the rest of the album.
The vocals are even quite Americanised given their French background, though this is probably something endemic of modern music in general as opposed to just Yeti Lane. After all, even British artists fall foul of this strange issue.
There are ten solid tracks averaging over four minutes for each song, so at 41 minutes, you're far from short-changed with this effort. There's room for improvement, but as far as debut albums go, Yeti Lane are setting a great precedent.
8/10
Matt Gardner