YACHT

Add Date: June 28 

Artist: YACHT 

Album: Shangri-La 

Label: DFA 

Genre: Electronica, electropop 

Comments: Shangri-La is the fifth LP from Jona Bechtolt's electropop project YACHT; it's the second to feature vocals from Claire L. Evans and also the second for DFA Records, the label co-founded by James Murphy. That latter fact is the more significant of the two. Don't get me wrong--Evans is a fine, distinctive singer who brings to mind Thao Nguyen or tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus--but it's almost as if YACHT is trying to sound more like Murphy's recently-retired band on their new LP.

To be sure, you could do a lot worse than to emulate LCD Soundsystem, and Bechtolt and Evans pull the style off quite well. However, YACHT's seemingly unique brand of electropop, especially on recent works like I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real and See Mystery Lights (their first DFA release), was what drew the band so much deserved attention. And while their original flair isn't completely gone on Shangri-La--especially on album standouts like "Dystopia (The Earth Is on Fire)" and the title track--it's often obscured behind the dance-punk that will, for better or for worse, link them even closer to Murphy and DFA.

Track 2 is DNP on the LP, so try one of the edit versions on the single, and also spin 10, 3 and 5.