November 20th, 2009 9:44am
A Million Other Things
Yo La Tengo “If It’s True”
One of the tricks Yo La Tengo have mastered over the years is placing their quiet, unassuming personalities in the context of familiar song styles that are typically characterized by more glamorous vocalists. They’re not the first people to ever do this, and they’re hardly not the only band to deliberately undersell emotional lyrics with a flat vocal affect, but they don’t just stop at irony and call it a day. Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have learned to give nuanced performances in their narrow range, and when they sing about the complications and struggles of stable long-term relationships, it’s always pitched with just the right balance of honesty and self-effacing wit. They know that they aren’t the most exciting people and that their relationship may not be the most dramatic thing, but they know exactly how to draw you in and make you relate to where they’re coming from even if you’ve never been so lucky to have what they’ve got.
Buy it from Amazon.
11/20/09 2:33 pm
This sounds an awful lot like “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” for the first few seconds.
11/20/09 8:15 pm
damn right it does. But Ira’s gone on record before stating that there’s nothing wrong with certain songs reminding people of other songs, and he’s right. There’s comfort to be had in the familiar, and YLT swing well.
12/5/09 2:15 pm
Yo La Tengo are gorgeous all over - watched them at ATP yesterday with the gang from our very own Bear Driver. That ‘cover’ that Daniel Johnston did over the phone when they played on the radio is amazing too, his voice emphasizes just how emotional their music is - in a very good way. ‘BABY MOTORCYCLE!’