Song 289: Yeasayer, “No Need To Worry/Redcave” (2008)

A lot of things could have made Yeasayer’s running-around-Paris performance of “Redcave” too precious to stomach. If the band had taken itself too seriously, if they had thought they belonged in the middle of a subway car, they would have appeared too presumptuous, too conceited.

Instead, in their installment of Vincent Moon’s Take Away Show, Yeasayer looks downright thrilled to be wandering around French metropolitan streets like a bunch of musical vagabonds. They look like they’re having a blast getting away with something, making something happen. (My favorite part is when bassist Ira Wolf Tuton slides down the escalator railing, making frontman Chris Keating giggle.)

Yeasayer sound equally at home among digital aesthetics and subway cars, which is a rare thing. I personally like it best when the band has feet in both worlds, but when they venture far in either direction, the results are just as exciting.

But nothing Yeasayer has done matches the excitement of watching the band wander around the city, eager to surprise and continuously delighted about what they can do.

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