Yukon Blonde – On Blonde

A catchy and danceable summer record...

Ever since the late Noughties when bands like MGMT, LCD Soundsystem and Franz Ferdinand all but perfected indie pop designed for the dancefloor, it's become something of a cultural obsession, albeit one where seemingly the only way to promote "reinvention" is to buy a whole host of fancy new synthesisers.

Yukon Blonde's 'On Blonde' – the Canadian band's third full length LP – doesn't adhere so blindly to such conventions and by doing so they've birthed a catchy and danceable summer record which shows plenty of promise but falls short of something great.

Teaser tracks 'Como' and 'Saturday Night' both feature driving beats, prominent synth hooks and the sweet, multi-layered vocal lines of Jeffrey Innes. More impressive is 'I Wanna Be Your Man', a glam strut complete with a juddering, fuzz-laden guitar. It's a fairly pleasing start but there's an interesting shift towards psychedelia during the album's second half.

One can quite easily join up the dots from Tame Impala or The Flaming Lips' playful, more accessible material to 'You Broke The Law' and it's glitter pop chorus or the rather addictive psych-folk of 'Hannah'. There's a lot of fun to be had here but frustratingly, most of the material, production aside, lacks character and a unified uniqueness to separate Yukon Blonde from the rest of the competition.

All these things don't stop 'On Blonde' from being a bad record necessarily, and among it's reasonably trim collection of tracks there are some real gems. So if you're a fan of MGMT who wished they hadn't proceeded down that Syd Barrett route or wondered what it would sound like if Wayne Coyne managed to team up with Phoenix, then this may just be for you.

6/10

Words: Luke Winstanley

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