Bleep

For their first LP of wholly new material in a half-decade, Yo La Tengo strike a neat balance between darkness and light. Though the American indie-rock legends have nothing to prove at this point, there’s much more fire in the belly of There’s A Riot Going On than most of their slew of imitators could ever muster. Conceived as a response to their country’s confused and troubling present, the band do not shy away from noise and disquiet, yet also offer beauty and hope as a riposte. Opener ‘You Are Here’ is a perfect example of this ethos - opening with grizzled distortion and feedback, the track soon blossoms into a beautiful lilt reminiscent of 90s luminaries like Pavement and … YLT themselves.