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 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.Different strokes. Given the unfashionable positivism of their name and a declared affection for Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon and the soundtrack to Oliver!, Yeasayer rather play against the stereotype of the Brooklyn hipster band. Still, the quartet have turned discerning ears with recent album All Hour Cymbals, proving that there's plenty of room for difference, even if it does come in the shape of an African tongue drum.Yeasayer have described their sound as "Middle-Eastern psych-pop/snap-gospel", which doesn't quite convey its magnificent, cream-whipped mix of Fleetwood Mac, African highlife, Robert Wyatt, rebetika, Thomas Mapfumo, Neil Young, Tears For Fears and Aboriginal chanting. TV On The Radio and fellow Baltimore �migr�s, Animal Collective, are kindred spirits, but more for the exultant intensity of their live performances than any sonic similarities.  Samples man/keyboardist Chris Keating began Yeasayer as a solo project when he was at art school, soon quitting to focus on music. "I got excited again about the power that music has to really make you laugh or cry," Keating explains, "and I realised music was the only constant in my life that was like that. I'd also read a great book about communal ecstatic revelry, so then I started listening to a lot of gospel music and knew I wanted the band to sing harmonies. It wasn't that conscious then but, looking back, that's how the idea of Yeasayer came together." Keating emphasises the importance of constantly striving to make new and - ideally - unrecognisable sounds. "I hate drum kits," he admits. "Why have people been playing the same trap drum kit for so long? It's just a musical convention. The snare drum had its place in jazz bands and 60s rock, but it has an awful sound. We do have a drum kit, but we do a lot of playing, then sampling of ourselves playing. We might pitch up Ira [Wolf Tuton]'s bass three octaves and make it sound like a French horn."  Despite their love of experimentation, Yeasayer would never sacrifice communion with their audience. And they do like a good hook. "We love pop music," declares Keating. "If I'm making a record I want it to be challenging, but at the same time I want someone to go away singing something in their head. Although on the next record I think it will be even less obvious what instruments we're using."
Sharon O'Connell
The single album All Hour Cymbals is out now on We Are Free.
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