The Link Between Yeasayer’s Odd Blood, Phil Collins, and American Psycho

Yeasayer’s Odd Blood is out today, and I won’t divulge too much information about it, but I will pass along this tidbit: they’ve “matured.”

To figure out exactly how, I listened to the newest album back -to-back with the band’s 2007 debut, All Hour Cymbals, and something popped into my head: Patrick Bateman.

Yes, I mean that Patrick Bateman; the chainsaw tossing anti-hero of the book and film, American Psycho.

While I’m not sure if any of the members of Yeasayer have a lust for torture and murder (hope not), there is a line that I remember from the film where Bateman is getting ready to kill his next victim with Phil Collins as a soundtrack. He talks of Phil’s previous work, and how it was (paraphrasing here) “artsier.”

Since I know too much about music, I am going to go with my nerd hunch, and say “artsier” means his first solo album, Face Value, or maybe even his work with Genesis.

So I got to thinking, “why have I stopped meditating on Yeasayer, and turned my attention to Phil Collins and a Bret Easton Ellis character?” Then I realized that when I first heard Yeasayer’s other album, I thought it sounded like a psyched out Genesis-Does-Istanbul.

So there is the Genesis/Phil Collins-Yeasayer connection, but what does it all mean?

Here’s my guess: I see Genesis and the first Phil Collins solo album in Yeasayer’s move towards a ‘friendlier’ sound that remains elementally experimental. Whether you find that insulting, or awesome is up to you; I think it rules.

But it doesn’t end there; there are a few other artists whose work I can trace that same line from.

Human League

Yes (1973 and 1985)

O.M.D. (1980 and 1985)

Roxy Music (1972 and 1982)

Suicide and Alan Vega solo work

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