Review Summary: Staying at the top of their game
I’ve seen criticism that Yeule’s latest album,
Evangelic Girl Is A Gun, is a boring, safe or dull counterpart to their previous full-length,
Softscars (an AOTD contender in my eyes, so expectations are high). To an extent I get it,
Evangelic Girl isn’t as ambitious as its predecessor. Where that album hit high notes, re-defined genres and generally pushed boundaries,
Evangelic Girl nestles itself back within the warm, comfortable nooks and crannies of
Softscars’ winning formula. But to call the album safe would be to dismiss Yeule’s absolute mastery of their sound, one which they still subtly evolve.
Trip-hop is a bigger influence than ever before – the instrumental to opener “Tequila Coma” feels like a 30-years-later reinvention of Portishead’s
Dummy. More than sonically, the ethos of trip-hop (or is it just the 90s?) is also omnipresent, with slowed-down tempos, atmospheric guitars, and Yeule’s laid-back, slacker-like delivery on tracks like “1967”, “VV” and “What3vr”. It’s complete nostalgic ear candy, especially since Yeule remains at the top of their game in writing sticky hooks and distorting them into a sugary, glitchy confection. Just look at “Dudu”, which lures you with a gentle Frou Frou-ish verse and then smacks you with a huge, imperial-era-Oasis-level chorus.
And then there’s the outlier: the title track. To call this album dull would be to completely dismiss “Evangelical Girl Is A Gun”, a thumping, cunty-strutting, discombobulating behemoth of a song. It’s somehow proto-
Brat, post-
Brat, a bit of vampire
Brat, but also not at all
Brat… it’s Yeule. Even the music video is a masterpiece, up there with Björk or Lady Gaga’s best. Overall, the track is an immediate career highlight and a testament to Yeule’s visionary status amongst their peers as a pop and electronic auteur. It is the crowning jewel of
Evangelic Girl Is A Gun, which I re-iterate is not intended to be a boundary-pushing album, but instead a virtuosic victory lap.
