New YACHT - "Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)"

"The earth, the earth, the earth is on fire. We don't have no daughter. Let the motherfucker burn." YACHT's Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans have returned with “Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire),” the first single off their forthcoming Shangri-La LP, out June 21st on DFA Records. The duo's signature brand of apocalyptic sci-fi funk is as interesting and dynamic as ever on this synth-drenched disco gem.

YACHT - “Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)” (from Shangri-La)

Review: YACHT - See Mystery Lights

On the fourth track from YACHT’s DFA label debut, Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans sing in unison, “In these conservative times / We’re making conservative art/ And it’s boring, boring, boring, boring.” The lyrics, delivered over muted guitars and a choir of rolling tom-tom drums, repeat like a disaffected punk anthem before Bechtolt loosens the reigns and transforms it into a disconnected tangent of noise and rhythm under the repeated mantra, “You can live anywhere you want.”

Boring? I think not. With the excellent and bizarre See Mystery Lights, YACHT have produced an album immune to categorization; a computer-generated opus of beeps, synthetic bass lines, manipulated vocals and dissonant crevices and arcs that somehow meld into a wholly organic work. Lyrically tackling topics like religion and the occult, the record is an oft-humorous but intellectually invested endeavor as equally far out as it is accessible and hook-filled.

Asking on the opening tropicalia-infused “Ring The Bell,” “Will we go to heaven or will we go to hell? / It’s my understanding that neither or real" and continuing into to the Talking Heads- and Devo-esque funk of "Afterlife," the two songwriters probe and speculate on heavy issues with danceable beats, science-fiction worthy sound effects, and whip-smart lyrics:

It's not a place you go, it’s a place that comes to you / And it's not about who you know or who is in your heart / It may come as a surprise, but you are not alone / All that you have is not what you own.

See Mystery Lights is unique as a largely electronic dance album, as it not only sufficiently delivers its booty-shaking promise but also stimulates the listener into thought. While every song is not a theological exercise ("Summer Song," "We Have All We Ever Wanted"), it's refreshing to encounter a subject matter in pop music that hasn't become absurdly over-saturated (love, perhaps?).

On "Afterlife," Evans, who spends her spare time writing a science journal, muses "death is not the end of this song." And she's right. While music is the rare art form that exists in time and subsequently has a beginning, middle and end, her record with Bechtolt is one that will certainly live on after its inital death—with repeated plays.

YACHT - "The Afterlife" (from See Mystery Lights)

Related: Video for YACHT's "Psychic City (Voodoo City)"

Video: YACHT - "Psychic City (Voodoo City)"

I've always enjoyed Jona Bechtolt's beat-heavy electro-pop music, whether with his former side-project The Blow or as YACHT. YACHT—now a duo with the addition of vocalist Claire Evans in 2008—released its newest LP See Mystery Lights on July 28th and its first video for the record today. "Psychic City (Voodoo City)", the album's first single, is visualized as a hilarious religious parody with the duo manifesting the forces of light and dark in full monochromatic suits and bearing wands and a nun-chuck slinging crucifix. It doesn't get much weirder, or better.

YACHT - "Psychic City (Voodoo City)" (from See Mystery Lights)