Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever To Tell

Reviewed by RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * * )

The trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs are another New York outfit undergoing a wave of Brit-hype. You can see and hear why they're proving so irresistible - frontwoman Karen O shrieks up a crude'n'rude vocal storm in front of Nick Zinner's fulsome guitar and Brian Chase's drums.

The sound across the 11 tracks of their debut variously reminds of times of Siouxsie and The Banshees, or PJ Harvey's earlier recordings, with nods (on the final Modern Romance) towards Nico and the Velvet Underground.

It makes for an compelling wiry album, with an exciting line in punk-blues and rockabilly at their best on Man and Black Tongue and Ms O's caterwauling may prove one of 2003's more intriguing new rock voices.

(Modular)