Yacht – See Mystery Lights

Album Reviews • Monday June 22nd, 2009 • 8:09 am

The members of Animal Collective probably aren’t robots, but imagine that they were. Imagine that these are special robots with big hearts. Imagine YACHT, a group whose songs sound more like pop tunes and techno beats holding hands with each other.

The band’s latest, See Mystery Lights, is a bit more polished than their previous, I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real. Possible reasons for this could include the band’s new member (Claire Evans) or their new label (DFA), but really not too much has changed. As with their last album, at their worst, YACHT is repetitive. But even their tracks that simply devolve into their techno roots seem to fit – the beats just belong there. Often times you don’t realize you’ve been listening to the same looped sound until you’re at minute five of a song.

Tracks three and four on See Mystery Lights are good examples of such songs. “I’m In Love With A Ripper” utilizes a Kanye West level of Auto-Tune and plays like an extended commercial pop song. “It’s Boring/You Can Live Anywhere You Want” is saved by its shift mid-way through the track. Both songs are varied enough to keep listeners interested (if barely, at times), but they play like album filler between standout tracks like “The Afterlife” and “Psychic City.”

YACHT’s web site reads like a mission statement, a religion and a blog. They are a self-proclaimed “Band, Belief System and Business.” YACHT is about group consciousness, but also the individuals within it. It believes in an Afterlife, but neither Heaven nor Hell. And when not being cryptic, Jona Bechtolt wants you to know what’s up with their latest single. This combination makes for the feeling that YACHT offers both insight and friendship. It does this literally, with an invitation to sign up and become a part of YACHT.

All of the band’s web site talk of Afterlife and Lightness and Darkness seeps into their songs on See Mystery Lights from track one. “Ring the Bell” queries “Will we go to heaven/Or will we go to hell?/It’s my understanding that neither are real.” But spanned across the album, YACHT’s deeper questions feel more thematic than direct. The result is an album that is uplifting in an unexpected and subtle way. In short, it’s heartwarming in a way that only robots can be.

Though at times See Mystery Lights is little more than dance-able (“Summer Song” would be an example), it’s the shifts from pop song to dance song to pop dance song that make YACHT an interesting band to consume. The tracks on their new album are not consistent as you play through them; it’s their talk of dancing, trinities and voodoo cities that hold the songs together. You’re left with steady beats and an odd feeling that everything will be okay.