“Will we go to heaven or will we go to hell?”
YACHT’s Jona Bechtolt presents this existential question while breaking into the jaunting opening “Ring The Bell” on the group’s “See Mystery Lights,” and while electro pop isn’t necessarily known for its introspective side, Bechtolt here has essentially blended emotional moans and lyrics, synthed out riffs and perfect production with deft skill.
Over the past few years, Bechtolt has become the darling of the electro pop and art rock scene with his impressive, imaginative shows. But it is with “See Mystery Lights” that he has taken it a step further with connected and innovative pop songs that show a gifted touch within his genre.
With Clare L. Evans now a full member of the band – she was featured on half of YACHT’s last outing “I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real” – Bechtolt’s project has taken on the overall feeling of a real group, instead of a simple solo outing or collection of beats.
Evans’ low-key vocal drones are almost akin to the talk-singing style of The Pixies’s Kim Deal or Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. On “Don’t Fight The Darkness,” Evans lets loose with Bechtolt while singing in a perfect harmonic tandem. While she remains restrained and a background character in his game, her element provides a sublime balance to Bechtolt and his masculine drone.
While Evans has been added to the production as a whole, it is Becholt’s vision that shines the brightest on the album. His love of Brian Eno’s producing ability and the dark hum of David Byrne are felt in the cowbell rhythm of “Ring The Bell” or the manic nature of “It’s Boring /You Can Live Anywhere You Want.” While Byrne’s influence can be felt on almost every track, Bechtolt takes the shaky, quivering vocals and the afro-beat influence of the Talking Heads front man and makes it his own.
On “The Afterlife” the blatant Byrne and Heads influence goes deeper into almost Tom Tom Club territory. Tom Tom, the rhythmic backing and a sucessful side project of the Heads, dove deeper into the pop heavy elements of the former, and it is here that Bechtolt distills that into his own concoction. These are pop songs with a twist and a kick. He whips up a pounding snare and bass beat behind Evan’s almost sarcastic quips and his subdued chorus calls.
While there is seriousness behind this work, what Bechtolt has presented is a piece that is thoroughly fun to listen to. It’s happy and excited to be alive in a time of despair. It’s this devil may care recklessness that makes the collection all the more gorgeous.
The freewheeling epic “I’m In Love With A Ripper” is just the kind of chaotic delight that Bechtolt seems to revel in.Avocoder-soaked romp with guitar-layered synth backing the whole mess seems to surge in every right direction,coming up and down in emotive, howling waves that crash into the senses.
It’s this looming sense of controlled chaos that always seems on the brink of falling apart that makes “See Mystery Lights” and Bechtolt’s vision the correct dose of bittersweet medicine for these times and the people who inhabit it.
-Colin Jones
