Yo La Tengo: Summer Sun : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

On Summer Sun, Yo La Tengo explore quiet the way they once indulged in loudness -- as a means to a mood. Wandering farther down the path cleared by their last two albums, the Hoboken, New Jersey, trio disguises its guitars, minimizes its drums and makes plink-plunk sounds with its keyboards to conjure mystery, uncertainty and precious private moments. Few bands submerge their ego more effectively than Yo La Tengo: Husband and wife Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley both sing slightly louder than a whisper, with very similar conversational voices. Jazzy instrumentation and dub-inspired studio manipulation share the foreground on shuffling, hushed workouts such as "Let's Be Still." The songs create a warm yet uneasy vibe that's not just meant for your head. Like Stereolab and Beck, Yo La Tengo liberate their listeners by downplaying language and logic in favor of our bodies' hazy dreams.