Yo La Tengo

Though childless, Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have always exuded a parental quality. This has been more or less intuitive to me, as they met around the same time my parents did. For over a quarter of a century, their influence has tenderly guided listeners through the rough thickets of musical history, introducing them to near-forgotten artists like the Flamin’ Groovies and the Only Ones. They tell jokes, they like holidays, they’ve even got a funny, pudgy friend who won’t stop coming over (James McNew, faithful bassist of 17 years).

Entering the swells of middle age, Hoboken, N.J.’s finest trio finds itself being pulled in disparate directions. “Popular Songs,” like Yo La Tengo’s last album—the colorful, horn-filled 2006 pastiche “I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass”—touches on an array of different genres and styles. The middling songs on “Beat Your Ass” were often indistinguishable and therefore inoffensive; the same cannot be said for “Popular Songs.” Each track here is crafted and orchestrated, nurtured and cared for. This means that the highlights here are just as high, if not higher, but the lows are more prominent as well.

In the midst of swirling bells and dense backing harmonies, “Avalon, or Someone Very Similar” finds Georgia in the highest of vocal registers, channeling sometime collaborators the Magnetic Fields circa “Wayward Bus.” Lush pockets of jangle-pop slowly expand and burst, growing fuller with each verse, culminating in a heavenly guitar solo. “Nothing to Hide” is more ragged but still impeccable. Drawing on the raw, garage-rock sensibility of “Fuckbook” (the March LP of their alter-egos, Condo Fucks), the band refines the genre with more polished harmonies, precise rhythms, and bright, crisp organ.

The album’s centerpiece comes, fittingly, at song 6 of 12 tracks. “If It’s True” begins with a bass line immediately echoed by soaring strings. Sonically, it’s a perfect, retro pop gem­—a lost Four Tops hit coated in pre-fab shimmer and organ flourishes. Though certain cutesy lyrics seem quite in keeping with Motown simplicity (“Let’s make jam when life gives us a peach”) the song maintains a meaningful ambiguity. Joining the ranks of great uncertain love songs, “If It’s True” embraces the unknown, with the band pledging solidarity even as they question the notion of soulmates, romantic or otherwise (“Maybe it’s not quite right / But we’ll find out if it’s true”). Clocking in at just over two and a half minutes, the tune captures Yo La Tengo at their best and briefest.

This is not to say they’ve forgotten how to write longer jams, although in a mysterious lapse in judgment they pack the three longest songs in a row at the album’s end. These songs comprise a prodigious 37 minutes (longer than a few of their early LPs), and only one of them seems essential. “The Fireside” drones and wanders but never ignites; closing number “And the Glitter is Gone” picks up where “Beat Your Ass” extended intro “Pass the Hatchet” left off, but can’t register the same urgency without handclaps and vocals. “More Stars Than There Are in Heaven” is the most successful, relying on a slow buildup of fuzzy drums and airy guitar. The refrain is simple—“We’ll walk hand in hand”—but the way Ira draws out each syllable creates a melodic intensity that rises and falls in waves, in sync with the guitars and driven by the pulsing bass. Though the song gradually builds, it never explodes. Restraint seems in many ways totally at odds with this band—given their endless supply of cover songs, not to mention records—but here it works, preserving an internal rhythm that cycles throughout the song.

Like all parents, Yo La Tengo occasionally fail to engage their listening audience. The uninspiring “By Two’s” is the album’s requisite snoozer, James McNew’s sole vocal performance (“I’m on My Way”) is pleasant but forgettable, and spacey, grandiose opener “Here to Fall” sounds decidedly and eerily unlike them—distant, cold, and weirdly hollow. But in the end, the band fulfills their weighty responsibilities, protecting their impressive legacy as they steer and educate their offspring. Though at times long-winded, Yo La Tengo maintain their status as the wisest of authorities, full of surprises and always worth listening to.

—Staff writer Jessica R. Henderson can be reached at jhenders@fas.harvard.edu.