YEAH YEAH YEAHS Fever To Tell (Interscope/Universal) Rating: NNN Rating: NNN
Built up as the saviours of something after they’d released just a handful of tunes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs could have been excused for imploding under the weight of anticipation and expectation. They didn’t, and the New York trio’s explosive Fever To Tell disc is often thrilling, a 40-minute mess of angular, fidgety pop driven by Karen Orzalek’s squealing vocals. The full-throttle approach serves the Yeah Yeah Yeahs well. Guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase work up a tremendous, tremendously tight racket, but your tolerance for Fever To Tell depends on how much of Orzalek’s squealing and squeaking you can stomach. What sounds genuine and unique early on is utterly infuriating four songs in, but at least it’s better than her crooning.
