The Anxiety and Ambition of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Cool It Down
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It goes without saying that the world has changed since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs unleashed their feral debut album, Fever to Tell, in 2003. Written in the wake of of 9/11, it was a 37-minute adrenaline rush of post-punk you can dance to. The record cemented them as an integral part of the wave of guitar-heavy New York bands, such as The Strokes and Interpol, that rose to prominence at the start of the century.
Even now, they’re still considered a New York band, despite the city, its music, the band themselves, and the world around them continuing to change. The band went on hiatus shortly after releasing their third album Mosquito in 2013, though Karen O focused on releasing her solo work and contributing to film soundtracks, and became a mother for the first time. Meanwhile, Nick Zinner lent himself to film scores, while Brian Chase also became a parent.
On Friday, September 30th, the band will have returned with Cool It Down, their first album in nine years. It contains some of the group’s strongest material to date, and showcases what they’ve learned during their time apart as a group. Indeed, Cool It Down is expansive, ambitious, and eclectic, anchored by an overall anxiety not only about the environmental climate crisis — but its impact on humanity, the desire for human connection and intimacy, and how to make sense of a world that continues to burn.
If the band were ever nervous about the quality of their output following a nearly decade-long absence of new material, with the stakes higher than ever, it’s never apparent on this album. A raging confidence surges throughout Cool It Down, and the music showcases a band who older, wiser, more mature. It’s held together by the strength of Karen O’s lyrics, her signature voice, and the eclectic instrumentation that have made the band so loved. It’s also their most experimental effort yet, full of dramatic soundscapes that see the band push the boundaries of what it really means to be an alternative rock band in 2022.
They waste no time in getting off the ground with the stunning opener “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” featuring Perfume Genius. It’s the album’s boldest and best number, about the damage being done to planet earth and a sadness for the younger generation that will soon inherit it. Though lyrics like “never had no chance (nowhere to hide)” might imply a foreboding sense of nihilism, Karen O and Mike Hadreas’ voices are full of empathy and concern, a reminder that kindness amidst ruin is still possible.
“I bleed like a wolf/ I’m lost and lonely, I hunger for you only, don’t leave me, don’t break this spell,” Karen O laments on “Wolf,” another synth-centric number that starts to up the ante of the album’s course just a little, hinting towards the climactic heartbeat of the album; the heavy instrumentation pulsates like a soft current throughout the verses before crushing like a heavy tide during the soaring chorus. Karen O’s voice is seductive as ever as she invites you deeper into the wild and whatever hedonism it entails.
On “Fleez,” the band introduce heavy guitar riffs for the first time on the record, and it continues where “Wolf” left off: “The wilderness becoming my addiction/ I shuffle round the creatures and lords/ On the road again, I make my transformation/ And it feels nice to roll the dice.” The song makes a reference to funk-rock band ESG in the lyrics, and the group’s influence is clear in the music.
Even as discussions about the longevity of “guitar music” continue to ebb and flow, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have constantly experimented with what it means to be a “rock band.” Their output is consistently shape-shifting and adventurous; Cool It Down is the epitome of that.
“Burning” can be construed as an obvious lyrical nod to the ongoing climate crisis, with the lyrics, “Into the sea, out of fire/ All that burning” — but the song was initially inspired by Karen O returning to her East Village apartment being engulfed in flames when she was 19. The references to smoke and glowing meteors could easily be about the wildfires that have plagued California and Australia, but it’s also about Karen O discovering that her most prized possessions just so happened to be saved amidst the fire — leading her to understand the importance of cherishing things even at times of disaster.
The band lean into their more introspective songwriting on “Blacktop.” Karen O’s voice is intoxicatingly intimate over only a simple, stuttering beat as she reflects on the kind of growth that naturally comes with aging: “One to one we say, and all the pain flows.”
“I feel different today/ different today about you,” she ponders on “Different Today,” an upbeat track about the dissolution of a relationship as the world keeps continuing to spin amidst individual pain and turmoil. Then there’s “Mars,” where the band peel back the layers the most. It’s a tender, affectionate spoken-word track with lyrics that Karen O had started to pen in the form of a poem back in high school: “I asked my son what I looked like to him/ ‘Mars,’ he said, with a glint in his eye.”
The world is hardly the same as it was back then. Karen O was a lone female voice in the heavily male-dominated early-2000s rock scene, and even more so as the only South Korean-born American female musician — but even that’s a little different now, with the steady rise of non-male guitar-heavy artists over the past few years, many of whom call Karen O a role model.
Thanks to Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the world is better today than it was in 2003 — even if it is a little too slightly burnt.
Catch Yeah Yeah Yeahs on tour; tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
Essential Tracks: “Spitting Off The Edge Of The World” feat. Perfume Genius, “Burning,” “Fleez”
Cool It Down Artwork:
The Anxiety and Ambition of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Cool It Down
Cady Siregar
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