It’s been 15 months since the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s released their sophomore album Show Your Bones. A deliberate assault on the mainstream, it saw the threesome cut down on the screeching vocals and cut throat guitars that flowed through the veins of their early EP’s and debut Fever To Tell. With Show Your Bones the YYY’s created a set of songs that had a more polished sheen to them. Ultimately, though, it lacked the immediacy and raw sprit of their earlier work. This is not saying that Show Your Bones didn’t have its moments; Gold Lion, Phenomen and Cheated Hearts were all pure gold, but the rest of the album felt rushed and a little safe.

The songs that show up on the Is Is EP are pitched inbetween the two previously mentioned albums. Opener Rockers To Swallow fills the room with Karen O’s trademark deranged screeches whilst Nick Zimmers collosal guitar sound assaults your senses. It’s a strong opener and a sign of intent but lacking in actual craftsmanship. Down Boy fools you into a false sense of security seeming, at first, to be a more laid back song but quickly turning itself on its head as the drums and guitar explode out of the speakers. The remaining three tracks Kiss Kiss, Is Is and 10×10 are all vintage YYY’s that shake and stir you to the core before disappearing out if site – they leave you wanting more, the exact same feeling one had when first listening to the debut EP.

The five tracks contained on the EP were written in the period between Fever To Tell and Show Your Bones and have been live staples for some time, with most of the tracks showing up on live DVD Tell Me What Rockers To Swalllow. So to use it as a reference point of where the band are artistically is pointless. If anything the EP acts simply as a reminder of the sheer brute force the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s have, especially when stripping their sound of all the bells and whistles and just getting back to basics. The lack of production shows off the enormity of the bands sound. It’s unrestrained like a wild animal and yet still has the ability to blow your socks off, and, most of all, reminds you why the world went crazy over the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s in the first place. Where the band will go on their next album is anyones guess. But for now, this acts a solid reminder that, when left to their own devices, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s are a force to be reckoned with.
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Links
Yeah Yeah Yeahs [official site] [myspace]