Hip NYC trio YEAH YEAH YEAHS’ second album “Show Your Bones” was a confident, commercial step forward from the rather more oblique and arty “Fever To Tell” and clearly benefited from being conceived in the warm California sun with equally hip LA producer Squeaky Clean at the controls and Alan ‘Shoegaze-y and Influential’ Moulder doing the mixing thang thereafter.
Indeed, previous YYYs single, “Gold Lion” was considerably straighter, rockier, four-square and anthemic than ever before and introduced a strutting, T-Rex-ian appeal that had been absent beforehand. “Turn Into” isn’t quite as striking, but it’s a goodie again and equally different again. This time it begins acoustic and plangent, with Brian Chase’s drums pattering and Karen turning in an almost country-tinged vocal, culminating in her sighing her way through the rueful lines “I know that girl you found kept that kind of window closed…hope I do turn into you.”
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Aided and abetted by lonely piano and what could be anything from an omnichord to a theremin, the arrangement is intriguing and ultimately “Turn Into” is a slow-burner and something of a world-weary revelation in its’ own right. It’s not exactly what you might expect, but it’s another sign that Karen O and co. are capable of previously unexpected depths and a further reminder that we shouldn’t write them off for a long while yet.
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