669 Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (1997)

 669 Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (1997)

Studio Album - Indie Pop


About the Act:

I was hoping Yo La Tengo were a Latino band. They are not. They are an American band from New Jersey, who have existed since 1984, and are still going and have released 16 studio albums. They have not had much commercial success but are loved by critics and have a cult following.

About the Album:

This was their 8th album, and their first to chart in the States. Critics loved it. Wikipedia says: "The album received considerable acclaim from music critics, who praised the band's ability to successfully expand the boundaries of nearly any pop style. The album is widely regarded as the band's best work and is frequently included on several publications' best album lists."

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

When the TV show Twin Peaks came along in 1990 it was decidedly odd. It's music mostly had this kind of washed-out dreamy feel. In a nutshell this is that sound, applied to several different styles of music. It sounds like everything has had a large wet facecloth draped over it. This somewhat unusual production brings washy guitars and keyboards to the fore, and everything else to the back, including drums. One one track I heard some very distant piano. Most if it is kind of light strummy rock, some feels heavier because they use distorted guitars, but no more dynamic for it. There are some more instrumental tracks like the opening guitar twangy thing, and a Krautrock/Spacerock distorted jam. One track is kind of a bossanova, and that actually works in this muted kind of approach, a bit like Girl From Ipanema.

There is a girl who sings who has quite a nice voice, and her stuff is maybe better as a result. The other two members are guys who sing and I can't tell them apart, but they are often so quiet in the mix and muted in performance that you can't hear the words. There's a song about an Autumn Sweater which apparently was a single that went down well.

I guess the point is that it is unusual. It sounds like a badly recorded amateur band, and to be honest I can't hear past that to find any nuggets of gold. The songwriting is average and the whole thing seems to be designed to slide off any efforts to listen carefully, like water off a Teflon duck. The final thing I have against it is the times when the guitar is out of tune. I know this has been a trendy thing to do, but it makes you sound amateur, guys.

There comes a point where modern art is just scribbling for attention. There comes a point in music where being deliberately bad is just bad, and this, for me, has one foot in that camp and one foot in acceptable. I'm going to come out and say I'm not a fan of shoegazing, or of most dream pop, and I am sure that there are people out there who love this. Certainly critics seemed to. Most of this was just not that enjoyable. I gave it a proper try, honest, 2.5 listens through. This is definitely a niche thing.

6.2/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3V18DIKvRuwdxc2LE4wuac

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_PZZm2fi_Vr0rBv66jioFdG8Aedj3pIw

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can_Hear_the_Heart_Beating_as_One


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