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“Zero” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
(Words/music: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, available on It’s Blitz!, Interscope 2009) 

I don’t have a specific date and time for it, but otherwise I can pinpoint the exact moment when I knew I was in love with “Zero.”  It was some time the end of last winter / beginning of last spring when I was driving toward a toll booth on a Friday afternoon, well-caffeinated and generally enthused to have an entire weekend ahead of me.  It was at this moment where I was in a battle with the tiny Karen O trapped in my car stereo for the louder vocals on the chorus.  Without realizing it, I started belting out the words I knew at a volume that would have disturbed any cars next to me.  Over the next few seconds, I felt embarrassed at my complete immersion in the song, relieved that it was still cold enough to have the windows up, and bewildered at this unexpected reaction to the song. 

Even if “Zero” isn’t as noisily confrontational as some of the band’s earlier output, it still thrives on an in-your-face intensity.  Given the artwork accompanying the song (the shattered egg and fist album cover and eyeball surrounded by lips on the single), “Zero” provides enough of a spectacle befitting such striking images.  From the rapid-pulse synthesizer opening to the track through the siren-like squeals in the final minute, the track sounds like a giant neon sign demanding attention.  Karen O sits right in the middle of this neon spotlight; however, rather than command the limelight, she plays it relatively cool.  Sure, she’s still in-your-face lyrically (the hook is “you’re a zero,” after all), but vocally she never crosses back to the screams or snarls she once brandished.  Instead, she bears some of the nuances in her voice, specifically the way it quickly dips on a low note or strains to reach a high note.  Even without her theatrics, Karen O still sounds as arresting and compelling as ever, discovering how she can still sound strong without the same strain.

More on Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm