Yacht: Shangri-La

Label: DFA

No offense to the first seven songs on Yacht's great new Shangri-La, or the work of Yacht captain Jona Bechtolt, but you may want to skip directly to track 8, "Paradise Engineering." That's where Claire Evans does that thing I like so much: She talks directly into the camera and tells us that things might be okay, if we take certain action. Somewhat echoing "The Afterlife" on See Mystery Lights, "Paradise Engineering" has an irresistible beat and Clare's part-spoken vocals that make you stand up and pay attention: "Hello my children! Hello my sons! Hello my daughters! Hello my brothers and sisters! I'm here to tell you..." Well, you'll have to check out the album to find out, which is hardly a bad thing: Shangri-La collects ten new Yacht outings ranging from disco ragers to mid-tempo tracks that you could dance to, but swaying around might make more sense. The record opens with "Utopia," a racing beat that'll get you sweating, and "Dystopia," which slows things down considerably. The two ideas lean against each other and account for a lot of the magic tension in Yacht's music (dancing is upbeat, but you don't want to be blithely unaware of what's going on either). For more ambivalent inspiration check out the prickly new wave of "One Step," the deeply satisfying buzz of "I Walked Alone" and "Tripped and Fell in Love," which just plain has a great title.