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Identity crisis behind them, the NYC trio returns with a monstrously fine third album.

 

BY NANCY DUNHAM

 

In the case of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Zero" equaled success.

 

That song, says lead singer Karen O, was the first the trio put together when they headed to the rural hinterlands to write It's Blitz (Interscope), the band's first album in three years. The peppy, upbeat song clicked, setting the tone for the rest of the peppy-beat-out-the-tune on the-dashboard album and eased some of the personal tensions that have plagued the New York-based band.

 

Karen O blames "growing pains" and an "identity crisis" that manifested itself in the form of "strife, turmoil and pain" and sent the trio careening toward break up land. But according to the vocalist, that's over now. Suffice to say the members are through those dark nights and back into their band and its music.

 

"I'd say that we really settled into our selves as people and musicians," she adds. "Of course we're constantly changing as individuals but we had to kind of get back to the common ground and dynamics."

 

It shows. It's Blitz is something akin to a musical racehorse that bursts out of the starting gate leaving you holding on for the ride of your life. Forget the past; the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have it down now with assertive musical energy behind Karen O's trademark vocals, which slash like a finely sharpened sword or float along like a summer cloud.

 

Gone is the Ramones-in-the-seventies guitar sounds, replaced by an Arp synthesizer, that gives It's Blitz a retro yet funky sound. The beat's heavy when needed but there is just the right amount of musical flavoring (think tambourine and maracas) to spice up songs such as the mid-tempo, punk-infused "Shame and Fortune" so they stand out from the crowd.

 

That's not to say the guitar has been completely purged. "Dull Life," starts at a slow pace and then glides into an intense beat that Karen O would say makes you want to "dance your ass off."

 

Bottom line - Yeah Yeah Yeahs are back with a polished,  fun sound on what may well be the album to beat this year.

 

 

 

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