Yeah Yeah Yeahs Create Some Heat on ‘Cool It Down’

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are back. It’s been nine years since their last release, or about half the time since they released “Maps” which would keep them always in view. The new album Cool It Down arrives as if it’s a bit of a moment. Both the group and Karen O came to symbolize much of (and the best of) a particular post-punk scene from the early 2000s. The group’s return (each member has done a variety of solo or other collaborative projects) comes with little nostalgia, though. Yeah Yeah Yeahs have adjusted their sound at every moment throughout their career, and if Cool It Down follows a decade of other activity, it sounds like a band a decade older but no less empowered.

The record opens with Karen O singing, “Cowards”, immediately challenging anyone who will listen. Those in question on “Spitting off the Edge of the World” turn out to be the leaders who have hidden from climate change and ecological disaster. The band, with guest vocals from Perfume Genius, maintains restraint. For all the celebration of Karen O’s dramatic performances, Yeah Yeah Yeahs frequently find their sweet spot on recording by holdings themselves just short of anthemic moments (key to the success of the brilliant Show Your Bones). Nick Zinner’s guitar takes off, but only to circumscribe the crisis.

“Lovebomb” follows with a more subdued approach. Producer Dave Sitek knows just how to capture Yeah Yeah Yeahs, whether they search for a particular texture or chase after bombast. The former approach applies here, as O speaks through much of the cosmic exploration. The band forgoes any sense of grounding. David Bowie was an explicit influence on the record, and the group’s willingness to drift into space shows that connection. “Wolf”, on the other hand, sounds more like traditional Yeah Yeah Yeahs, echoing the move on It’s Blitz! from rock clubs to dance clubs.

“Burning” provides an album highlight with its precise crafting, slightly opaque lyrics, and incessant call to dance. O sings, “Like the River Styx, I flow”, suggesting death and change. She calls listeners to something new, a break from “the bindings of her teachers”, but the song doesn’t offer a focus. The hints of fire and water play with elemental drives; coupled with “Spitting”, the song sounds nearly apocalyptic, but only if the revelation of future destruction would be a good thing.

That sense of dark but not bleak change centers Cool It Down. “Different Today” tackles the unending change with an odd lightness (as well constructed as the song is musically, it makes for the album’s weakest track). The spoken word “Mars” closes the track with hints of change and progress, but an oblique suggestion that violence and destruction persist. As O has looked at ideas of transformation and destruction, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have never paused, whether using sharp strings or big drum fills, as if pushing forward is its own sort of revitalization.

Cool It Down came largely out of the pandemic strain, but rather than lingering on life’s big pause, it ends it, always and fully in motion. Across these eight tracks, Yeah Yeah Yeahs mix big moments and simple softness, playing with tone and dynamics to develop tension, release, and steady propulsion. It’s kinetic energy that might not have been evident during that decade the band members focused on other projects, but it’s one that shows no sign of friction.