Just as you would hardly expect to find a rock and roll band asking someone to “Turn Down The Noise,” you might think that it would be impossible to build an infectious melody out of abrasive guitar riffs and gnarly sonics. Well, maybe you should just get used to expecting the unexpected, particularly in the case of the brilliantly named The Yum Yum Tree, as both of these things are true in their world.
But the noise that is being referenced is more metaphorical than literal, a place marker standing in for the slings and arrows that life throws at you, of responsibility and obligation, and how sometimes that you find that the tank is empty and, for the time being at least, you have nothing left to give… as a friend, a person, a fellow human being. There is, after all, only so much people can take.
And if the lyrics play with metaphor, the idea of turning harshness into harmony is very real. Beats are big, riffs raw, and basslines drive as the song tips its hat to college rock pioneers of the past. But like those bands who so expertly managed to blend muscle and melody, “Turn Down The Noise” also becomes more than the sum of its parts and, in no small part thanks to Andy Gish’s deft and distinctive…not to mention addictive and energized… vocals.
By the time the whole thing has been soaked in a cool three-part vocal line, and the sharper edges have been tempered (if enough sticky out things stick out, I guess it forms a surface of a different kind), if only slightly, the hooks have hooked you and the groove has got you under its spell, there is little you can do but join in, throw some shapes, sing-along, dance like a loon and get carried away in its cool and creative and crunchy charms,. Whether you want to or not. Non-compliance is not an option.
And if you like what you hear, and why wouldn’t you, their full album of the same name is out tomorrow!
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