Jona Bechtolt and Claire L Evans live in the middle of the Glass Desert, two hundred square miles of bizarrely-situated, dry scrubland in the south-east corner of the state of Oregon, where in the centre great, crooked, glass mountains of unholy shape and appearance rise up from the parched soil like ancient alien monuments to some schizophrenic god. It is in this odd, otherworldly landscape that See Mystery Lights was conceived, the album title itself coming from the “mystery lights” observed in the Glass Desert- the local phrase applied to mirages. YACHT’s imagery is full of the jokey, and alien- here is a picture of Jona and Claire, naked, hands held, in the Glass Desert, white triangles from the ‘A’ in their band’s logo covering their faces and genitalia. Here is their album cover, holographic, words flashing before you: “knowledge, power, responsibility””¦ and then they mix and you can almost make out “control”. Or can you? Maybe it’s just subliminal.Live, YACHT bring the party in a way few others do. With powerpoint presentations, sloppy dance routines and karaoke, you don’t need live instrumentation. Jona used to be in The Blow, but without the sing-song soft power of Khaela Maricich, all they do is shout, which means what they’re doing is very different, you know- more pounding, more physical, less verbose. Doesn’t work quite as well on record”¦ but on the other hand, its still breathlessly creative and fun pop music. Their last record, I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real kind of was too, but this is more consistent. Those plops on Psychic City, that “whoa, the afterlife” on the track of the same name that’s a direct sonic reference to ‘The Israelites’, the whole toddler stutter-kraut-medley of ‘It’s Boring/You Can Live Anywhere You Want’, this breathes magic into your ears.You could criticise this album for not being all that well structured, you could criticise it, like I already have, for not quite matching up to the thrill of YACHT’s live shows. But who cares? Just buy the record, it’s really good and really fun! 87%YACHT on Myspace