north of east
music navigatorYeasayer - ‘Henrietta’
It’s been a couple of years since we last heard a proper recording from the electronic fusion Brooklyn band that is Yeasayer. Their audience grew in 2010 thanks to the blog-worthy “Ambling Alp” off of Odd Blood, and that album’s success, paired with a few individual new tracks here and there, bought the band some time while they worked on their forthcoming third record.
While this new track off of Fragrant World isn’t all that different sonically from any number of songs out there, the subject matter is actually pretty interesting. ”Henrietta” refers to Henrietta Lacks, the woman whose experience with cancer both during and after her life is chronicled in the nonfiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. From singer and keyboardist Chris Keating:
“Her tumors were somehow used in the polio vaccine, too, so basically this woman’s cells still exist. It’s an interesting story. So we turned it into a dubbed-out pseudo-science-fiction song.”
Too early to tell whether the other songs on the record will have similarly far out inspiration, but we’ll find out soon enough - the album is set to drop on August 21st 2012 through Secretly Canadian.
Friday Night
Word on the street is that Passion Pit will have a new album this summer. From Pitchfork:
Passion Pit will follow up 2009’s Manners with their new album Gossamer, out July 24 through Columbia. They’ll also tour in support of the album, which is 12 tracks long. (Thanks to Spencer Stevens for the tip).
I’ve never been able to decide which Passion Pit tune I like the best, so here are a couple of my favorites to get you pumped for the new album, and the weekend:
