Yeasayer – The Roundhouse, London 21/10/10

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Photographs courtesy of Sonny Malhotra

The year is 2007, and a shuffling, seemingly disinterested crowd is gathering at The Barfly awaiting the live London debut of a four-piece from Brooklyn. Ripping their way through infectious percussion, hand claps, electronic noises and a vocal range that most would be jealous of; this was Yeasayer 3 years ago. Skip forward to present day and the bands previous longing looks across the road to The Roundhouse seem to have paid off. By their own admission, tonights sold-out show signifies that they have “made it”. And even though they’ve only made the physical journey of a few hundred yards across the road from The Barfly, tonight’s show is worlds apart.

Up first are fellow Brooklynites Suckers, whose eponymous EP was produced by Yeasayer’s Anaud Wilder and Chris Moore (Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, TV On The Radio). Drummer/keyboardist Brian Aiken and fellow multi-instrumental chanters Austin Fisher and Pan join frontman Quinn Walker on stage as they construct jarring electronic rhythms punctuated by screeching staccato guitars and an contagious eccentricity. Flailing his arms around and imitating sock puppets as he sings, Quinns’ gritty vocals ring out over glitchy synths and whistled melodies as the band attempt to free whistling from its twee folkster trappings.

With the circular hall of The Roundhouse beginning to fill, the lights dim as the synth stands on stage begin to glow green, throbbing with the pulsating synths of ‘Madder Red.’ Tonight’s opening soundscape reverberates around the room, followed by the gently plucked guitar and euphoric sing-along accompaniment of Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton and Anand Wilder’s sweeping, harmonised vocals. The stands turn red as the band’s stop-start rhythms and unusual instrumental pairings induce particularly jittery dance moves. Taking a breather from the electronic distortions of Odd Blood,Yeasayer break into ‘Wait for The Summer’ with its more organic structure that replaces heavy sampling with physical instrumentals.

Yeasayer have always walked a fine line between infectious off-kilter, left field melodies and glossy electro pop; fusing both elements perfectly in numbers such as Dark Was the Night only track ‘Tightrope,’ an absolute highlight of this evening. Playing through classic cult indie anthems such as ‘Ambling Alp’, ‘Sunrise’ and ‘2080’ ensure an audience so loud even the vibrating bass of the speakers situated directly in front of me can’t drown them out.

Leaving their more difficult art-rock numbers behind, tonight sees Yeasayer largely abandon the gloomy in favour of confident jubilation. Just before the blistering keys, muted bass lines and distorted bleeps of ‘O.N.E’ echo forth from the speakers Keating screams: “If everyone here doesn’t dance to this, I’m going to quit music right here and now.” Happily, every single person obliges.