Album Review: Fragrant World by Yeasayer

Written by Collin on 21 August 2012.

Yeasayer used to be everything great about a Brooklyn. But it's not 2008 anymore. ‘Fragrant World' isn't terrible, but it isn't superb. At most, it seems fairly mediocre.

Compared to 2007′s ‘All Hour Cymbals’ and 2010′s ‘Odd Blood,’ perhaps ‘World’ is just underwhelming. The record begins with a very strong "Fingers Never Bleed," which is one of the best tracks. After this, most of the other songs drag on a little, and they actually get kind of redundant. "Demon Road" and "No Bones" are the best examples of this. They just don't go anywhere. "Folk Hero Schtick" is a little weird, but in a good way: “Remaster your final lullaby / See how your genius is finally realized”

Most of the lyrics on the set seem to be pretty reflective and well-meaning. Chris Keating and Anand Wilder trade vocals through the album until the last song "Glass of the Microscope", which is actually a rather low-key song to end with since the whole album never seemed to escalate much.