by Ed Biggs

Having made one of the most distinctive British indie albums of the ‘10s with their self-titled debut, Yuck suffered a devastating blow three years ago when lead singer and chief creative force Daniel Blumberg quit to release his own music. Many feared for the group’s future direction, but guitarist Max Bloom stepped into the spotlight and made their second record, 2013’s Glow & Behold, a minor success that was unfairly panned by many. Buffing out the scuzzy, rough-edged qualities of their debut, Yuck willed themselves to greatness despite losing their distinctive sound, with tracks like ‘Lose My Breath’ showing a distinct fondness for Britpop and all things ‘90s in general.

Keeping the same line-up for third album Stranger Things, one would think that Yuck would benefit from that stability and push on – but, sadly, the malaise that many predicted after Blumberg’s departure has merely been deferred, as the new album falters badly on a number of fronts and suffers from the law of diminishing returns in seeking to retread the territory of their first album. Yuck have never made much effort to conceal their musical inspirations (chiefly, American indie stalwarts like Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Yo La Tengo, Built To Spill) but much more than both their previous records, Stranger Things lends itself to the ‘spot the influence’ game, largely because there’s not much else of interest to engage with.

Right from the start, it seems as Yuck might be struggling for ideas, as opener ‘Hold Me Closer’ goes as far as to borrow a part of its melody from that same line as sung in Elton John’s ‘Tiny Dancer’, jarring with the droning, fuzzy indie-ness of the rest of the track. As a piece of cross-genre signalling, it’s somehow confusing and obvious at the same time. ‘Only Silence’ does the same thing, cribbing the vocal hook from The Replacements’ ‘Bastards Of Young’, though admittedly it’s much more in line with the lineage Yuck are trying to place themselves within. The title track sounds like Teenage Fanclub covering The Small Faces’ ‘All Or Nothing’. The transatlantic feel of recent single ‘Cannonball’, part British post-punk and part ‘80s Pacific Northwestern underground, is a symbol of everything Yuck are trying to accomplish – though, crucially, they’ve done it much better before.

The anonymous shoegaze-inflected sounds of 2014 EP Southern Skies also did not bode well for album three, as the longer songs often fail to develop, like abstract paintings that lack that key bit of detail to lock its audience in, meaning that despite some promising starts they drift out having made no inroads into the listener’s consciousness. ‘Swirling’ and album closer ‘Yr Face’, both drenched in reverb, are the main offenders, while ‘Hearts In Motion’ plods pointlessly towards its conclusion and is a mystifying choice for a single.

Not all is negative, mind: the mid-album highlight ‘As I Walk Away’, in which bassist Mariko Doi takes up lead vocals, comes as blessed relief from Bloom’s rather bland singing style. The influences of both Stephen Malkmus and the ghost of Elliott Smith are detectable in the pleasant, if slightly too ethereal ‘Like A Moth’, while ‘Down’ is how My Bloody Valentine might sound if they started their career in 2016. Funnily enough, for all of Yuck’s conscious effort to signpost their influences, it’s the most anonymous musical track that provides Stranger Things’ most distinctive moment. ‘I’m OK’, with its sheepish yet loveable admission of emotional adequacy (“I got a shoulder to cry on / I got a sense of right and wrong”) is charming in its directionless-ness, and suggests that Yuck would have more success if they just let go and played without a sense of who they might be sounding like.

As it is, everything sounds far too conscious and forced, and the inescapable conclusion is that Bloom is neither a good enough frontman nor songwriter to carry off an entire album by himself. A couple of genuine diamonds aside, Stranger Things lacks both the scuzzy distinctiveness of Yuck and the sheer pop fun of Glow & Behold, and reverting back to try to capture their original sound really does seem like a fatal miscalculation when presented with the scarcity of memorable tunes and innovative approaches here. Particularly as Glow & Behold really wasn’t the disaster that many made it out to be, they really ought to have persisted with the direction in which they were travelling anyway. While it’s not entirely without merit, it simply doesn’t make much of an impression on existing fans and is unlikely to win them any new ones. (5/10)

Listen to Stranger Things here, and tell us what you think below!