Three’s company for Yo La Tengo

For too long, Yo La Tengo have been the unfortunate holders of a particular title in music. Being described as “the quintessential critics’ band” on repeat must get tedious, especially for a band coming up on 30 years of making music. The longevity of this career has many upsides, including an awareness of the market and what might be expected of them. In fact, when it came to making their 13th studio album Fade , Yo La Tengo decided to check whether their record label even wanted the songs in album form.

Ira Kaplan, speaking from a Swiss venue, while his bandmates soundcheck in the background, explains. “I’ve consumed music for such a long time, and have seen what’s happening with formats and distribution. So I asked the label if they wanted to put our music out as singles or downloads. If there was some other way of presenting our music, I wanted to be receptive to it, but I was pleased when they said they wanted an album.”

Kaplan formed an early version of the band in 1984, but the current line-up – which also features his wife Georgia Hubley and bassist James McNew – has been moulded over the last 20 years. Their close connection to the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, in the United States, where the band formed, has persisted (they still play several Hanukkah gigs every year at their local, Maxwell’s), but Fade was recorded in Chicago.

Instead of usual collaborator Roger Moutenot, the band teamed up with John McEntire at his Soma studio. McEntire, a renowned engineer and member of Tortoise and The Sea and Cake, was an obvious choice, but it came about randomly, despite a long-standing friendship.

“The idea came up, and we didn’t overexamine it. We didn’t finish Popular Songs with Roger and go ‘Oh never again’. We’ve often thought of working with someone else – I don’t know why we never thought of John.”

McEntire is also an excellent drummer, I point out. “We never have trouble finding people who play better than we do,” laughs Kaplan. “We like playing with other people, and John plays percussion on two tracks, but his loops and hands are all over this record.”

Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker also contributed some string arrangements, and I wonder if there’s any sense of unease in such a tight-knit band when it comes to allowing others in. “We collaborate all the time, but it’s definitely another thing we’ve gotten more open to over the years. Even with the Hanukkah shows, it’s rare just the three of us would be on stage. Maybe there is some element of unease when we’re making a record . . . we’re not afraid of it but maybe we’re a little possessive,” says Kaplan.

Yo La Tengo records often feature walls of guitar, and pulsing tracks that unfurl and build into epics (such as the tracks that bookend I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass ). Listening to Fade, a much more low-key sound is evident. There are the usual melodic hairpins, but the songs are noticeably shorter. Kaplan admits some of the songs have elongated when the band play live, but the brevity on the record is deliberate.