Fade's a perfectly competent album, and I hate to nail a band for doing what they do, but how many mostly interchangeable Yo La Tengo albums can we possibly praise? I think even their biggest fans would admit they sound a bit on autopilot here.
Crux of the matter: Well You Better. Possibly the hookiest song on the album, but that brushy beat, that meandering organ, that microfunk guitar -- it sounds like an all-Tengo Girl Talk track. It's cute! Even great! But even as it wins you over, in comes that little Frampton guitar talktalk like a starburst labeled "New!" and it tips into contrived. Pop's a razor's edge baby. Elsewhere extra little horns and strings wander in, but it just feels like frosting.
Most damingly, the heart and soul of the YLT experience, the endless droning wanderer, doesn't quite make itself known, the opening and closing tracks trying gamely but hewing just too carefully to ever make it to forbidden places. Frustratingly decent stuff 3.5/5
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