Yeasayer at the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, Aug 29 2012. Kirk Chantraine photo
Photos – Yeasayer at the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, Aug 29 2012
– by Kirk Chantraine
Yeasayer brought their Fragrant World Tour to the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver Wednesday night. The show was moved from the outdoor venue the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park.
Fragrant World is the title of the Brooklyn band’s follow-up to their breakout second album, 2010’s Odd Blood. Self-produced, the album has been receiving mixed reviews; Pitchfork and Spin both gave it mediocre scores.
As the press release puts it, “This is not a dish of pop rocks like Odd Blood, instead Fragrant World is something much weirder and darker.”
In Fragrant World‘s defense, the Vancouver Sun‘s Francois Marchand wrote that “Yeasayer’s synthetic ’80s new-age/synthpop edges and world music influences are toned down to a more ‘adult’ level on its latest, something that could potentially disappoint fans (and critics) who were looking for an album that would be more like Odd Blood‘s first half, which hit hard and fast with poppy singles like ‘Madder Red’ and ‘O.N.E.'”
The band’s full-length debut, All Hour Drums, was released in 2007.
For the Fragrant World Tour, the band decided to push the boundaries of the live show. They approached The Creators Project, a global initiative by Intel and VICE magazine, to help them turn their stage show into what a press release calls an “immersive sci-fi experience of light and color.”
The shows feature futuristic mirrored architecture, videos via Yoshi Sodeoka, and custom visual software.
More Yeasayer at the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, Aug 29 2012 photos:
