YACHT – See Mystery Lights (2009) [DFA] // Grade: A

Under normal circumstances, all the hippy-dippy conceptualizing surrounding YACHT’s See Mystery Lights (see: the band’s new triangle-obsessed website, mission statement and any and all press releases) would seem a tad contrived. Not that a band can’t have a concept, you know, it’s just that any surging interest in the paranormal can feel sort of Dianetics if it comes so out of the blue. But YACHT pulls it off because A) the Mystery Lights—unexplained orbs reported to fly around Marfa, Texas, where this album was recorded—are legitimately creepy and cool and B) Jona Bechtolt is, for whatever reason, one of the most charming and unpredictable dudes making music right now.

Armed with new member Claire Evans and a host of seriously sci-fi sounds, Bechtolt has ripped YACHT from its goofy dance past and turned it into a supernatural avant-pop space case—one that channels Kraftwerk, southern gospel and the Tom Tom Club in equal measure. It’s infectious in a really stealthy way; where you may have previously gotten the “See A Penny (Pick It Up)” earwig immediately, new tracks like “It’s Boring/You Can Live Anywhere You Want” or, my favorite, “The Afterlife” creep up on you slowly, begging for repeat listens. Even the DFA influence—most obvious on the purposefully LCD Soundsystem-esque “Summer Song”, but milling about the entire album—feels less warehouse party than weird desert dance jam (no, not Burning Man) without losing the super-fun, carefree element that’s always made YACHT pretty great.

And it’s precisely that element that lets you overlook the weaknesses, both on See Mystery Lights and previous YACHT albums: they’re so focused on having an awesome time, you can’t help but not give a shit that some tracks meander aimlessly. Can Bechtolt actually do any wrong? Definitely. But I guarantee that when he does, he’ll convince you to like it anyway. That’s just how it works.

- Rue Sauvage