Following her recent visit to Australia (under an even more theatrical guise than their live shows as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs put on), for Sydney’s Vivid LIVE 2012 festival – in which frontwoman Karen O had a season run with her ‘pyscho’ rock opera, Stop The Virgens – it won’t be long until Yeah Yeah Yeah fans will get their dose of alternative pop when the band arrive in the New Year for the 2013 Big Day Out tour.
Their arrival on Australian shores may also bring it with it some new material, with the band confirming the release of their fourth studio album in 2013, according to Los Angeles’ radio disc jockey Jason Bentley.
Host of LA radio station KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic program, Bentley said the art rock band will release their follow up to 2009’s highly acclaimed It’s Blitz! in the “springtime” of 2013, reports NME.
Heading along to a Big Day Out show next year, or to their only, already sold-out, Sydney sideshow, could perhaps be the perfect position to potentially hear some new music from Yeah Yeah Yeahs before the new album (hopefully) drops later in the year.
In the three years since their last release, It’s Blitz!, all three members of the band have been hard at work on their own projects and aren’t shy of sharing them with Australian audiences.
Drummer Brian Chase toured Australia in 2010 as part of an experimental jazz duo and Nick Zinner was here in January this year for his rock concerto, 41 Strings.
Karen O has dabbled more in cinematic scores, writing the music for the film translation of Maurice Sendak’s favourite story, Where The Wild Things Are, under Karen O and The Kids. The dynamic frontwoman also contributed to the star-studded soundtrack of Tim Burton’s new movie, Frankenweenie, with her single “Strange Love” (a soundtrack also featuring new music from Melbourne-via-NZ songstress, Kimbra).
However, the release of a new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album has remained tightly under wraps. Speaking to Triple J while in Australia for Vivid LIVE 2012, Zinner and O only hinted they’d like to release a new album, “sooner rather than later. We’ve been working on some stuff.”
In an interview with the Huffington Post, James Murphy, formerly of LCD Soundsytem, cleared up the rumours on his involvement (or lack thereof) in the new album, explaining, “I just did a little fun stuff. Nothing really big; I don’t have time and they don’t have time.”
He added: “I think they’re done with their record now, I was just fussing around. I didn’t make their album. They’re just friends.”
With just this vague hint of a new album release to go on, the Big Day Out 2013 tour and potential media commitments that surround it will definitely be the key for a confirmation on some long awaited Yeah Yeah Yeahs tunes.
