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AND THEN NOTHING TURNED ITSELF INSIDE OUT
Yo La Tengo
(Matador)
The 11th album by these beloved rock veterans from Hoboken, N.J., has been called autobiographical by some. But if husband-and-wife bandmates Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley do reveal any personal secrets here, they're pretty cryptic about it, and that's just as well.
What And Then Nothing ... offers is a deep meditation on love and couplehood as sensation, not soap opera, casting it in the same golden, sonic aura that made Yo La Tengo's previous album, 1997's I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, a near-masterpiece.
This time, the group's give-and-take between noise-pop and pulsating, ambient guitar soundscapes shifts dramatically in favour of the latter. Insular, steady, and quiet songs melt into each other, the supple beats and drones only occasionally bubbling over for the sweet Let's Save Tony Orlando's House, You Can Have It All, and the album's one, Sonic Youth-flavoured rock centrepiece, Cherry Chapstick.
But Yo La Tengo's strongest moments are often their most subtle. Their songs don't so much tell you about, say, the month of February, as let you smell a hint of spring in the air or feel the slush dissolve underfoot. Beautiful stuff.
Track Listing
1.Everyday
02.Our Way To Fall
03.Saturday
04.Let's Save Tony Orlando's House
05.Last Days Of Disco
06.The Crying Of Lot G
07.You Can Have It All
08.Tears Are In Your Eyes
09.Cherry Chapstick
10.From Black To Blue
11.Madeline
12.Tired Hippo
13.Night Falls On Hoboken