YACHT's initial release for DFA, 'Summersong' (a track actually inspired by the DFA label), set bloggers tongues a-wagging when it was released (last year) but See Mystery Lights picks up the ball and runs, runs, runs with it.
So what you get is an album that, admittedly, sounds post-punk enough to almost actually be from 1982. BlackPlastic isn't about to get holier than thou and tell you to drop this in favour of the new retrospective release from San Francisco post-punkers The Unit though (but you should definitely check that out too). And that is because See Mystery Lights sounds so damn fresh it is irresistible.
More than a simple revisitation of the past, YACHT draw inspiration from some great bands and twist their ideas to create something new. So the throbbing calypso chant of 'Ring The Bell' positively beams with knowing pop-sassiness whilst 'The Afterlife' chimes in with what sounds like the hook from Desmond Dekker's 'Israelites' over a bleepy bouncing synth backing.
Ultimately YACHT just hit on that key post-punk component: pop. Pure infectious pop. It's easy to forget the role pop had in post-punk but listen to Bow Wow Wow and Devo (not to mention the output of most of the bands that made up the New Romantic movement) and it is a wonder why YACHT's album feels like the first candy-pop post-punk record for our generation.
BP x
Available now on Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links].