Yo La Tengo-- I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One

(Matador 222)

Some years ago, Yo La Tengo released Electr-O-Pura, a landmark album that found the Hoboken trio with a precision mastery over their creative powers. The album's 14 songs revealed a tight command of extended drone solos (organ or guitar-- take your pick), as well as a passion for the simplicity of sentimental acoustical ballads. Up until Electr-O-Pura, despite all the band's worthy moments, no Yo La Tengo album could be said the cohere into a definitive "masterpiece."

On "Return to Hot Chicken," the opening track of the band's latest album, husband-and-wife team Ira Kaplan & Georgia Hubley, along with bassist James McNew, return to the bliss of Electr-O-Pura and then launch into 15 additional songs that confirm the trio's vision. The end result is that I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, while perhaps not the same tour de force as its predecessor, is a more relaxed, experimental and, yes, romantic undertaking.

Drummer Hubley's voice sounds as bittersweet as ever, and "Shadows"-- featuring Lambchop's Jonathan Marx on trumpet-- proves a fine showcase for her restrained vocal talents. The standout track, "Moby Octopad," drops an unexpected off-kilter piano riff into the song's bassline groove, while "Little Honda" pays a feedback-laden tribute to Brian Wilson and company.

The true beauty of this new disc, though, lies in its ability to create vast soundscapes and moods, opening up worlds away while retaining a homespun sense of bliss. Take for example "Center of Gravity," a bossa-nova tune complete with "Ba Da Ba" chorus; while the music fairly resonates with Latin rhythms, the lyrics are as unmistakably American as apple pie "Walking home after dark / Past the softball park / Whenever you're next to me / Center of Gravity."

Such is the genius + love of Yo La Tengo Kaplan and Hubley's hearts beat in unison, breezing through continents and extensive record collections without having to leave their thrift store corner of the world.

--- Stephen Head

(Yo La Tengo will play Trax in Charlottesville on Oct. 1)