Download: Yvette Breaks in to a "Cold Sweat"

Daniel Roland Tierney

In 2010, YIMBY praised the debut 7" of noise-punk night terror Yvette, a "hard-edged, ultraviolent, spooktacular response to years of the fluttery squish of Animal Collective." They've finally returned with a follow-up, "Erosion" b/w "Cold Sweat" (out this week on the God Mode imprint of piglet-fuck skronkpop crew Mr. Dream), and their sound has perfectly solidified itself into a fierce, industrial-leaning, drums-of-death blossom of nice sprites. The A-side is like They Were Wrong-era Liars sent back in time to bridge some gap between This Heat and Pretty Hate Machine. But the B-side wins again, combining Sightings guiterrorism, a vintage no wave 3/4 deathplod, and a sweet bubblegunk melody that somehow writhes itself free for exactly one chorus and no verses.

Download: Yvette, "Cold Sweat"

Q&A: Yvette on "Cold Sweat"

What is "Cold Sweat" about?

Noah Kardos-Fein, guitarist/vocalist: It has to do with the connection between body and mind and the notion of being present. Originally, the idea running in my head was that the lyrics would be the narration of someone in a car accident, and the phrase "I'm alive" would be the internal realization of a person in shock after a traumatic experience--as in "I'm still alive despite what happened." But as we kept reworking the song, the car crash idea felt weak and the lyrics transformed into a vague narration about feeling disconnected from the world while still experiencing it. I spend a lot of time in my head, and I think this idea came from certain moments feeling a little removed from reality.

Was the title at all James Brown influenced?

Kardos-Fein: I can't say it was, but I can tell you that for the longest time I thought the opening line of that song was "I don't care about your pants," which made me love it even more. Did you ever hear that James Brown/Pavarotti collaboration on "It's A Man's World"? It's a creepy one.

Rick Daniel/drums and effects: Who's James Brown?

How was making this 7" different than your first?

Daniel: This time we had the help of [producers] Nick Sylvester and Matt LeMay, which lifted a big weight off our shoulders. We tend to nitpick a lot of things and it was a great relief to have their direction. Last time we were setting up mics and recording takes all on our own, and this time it made a huge difference to have the extra hands and extra ears.

What is your favorite sound on this song, and how did you make it?

Kardos-Fein: I'm a fan of the feedback noise around the 40 second mark. Nick and Matt will tell you that they like the funny click-and-ring sound just at the 30-second mark. It drove me nuts because we had no idea where it came from, but it sounded so strange that we ended up leaving it.

Daniel: For me, it's Noah's vocals towards the end of the song. Nick and Matt pushed us to keep the vocals a little less treated and expose them in the mix a little more, which ended up making them sound strong and intense. They are haunting, and they definitely freak me out a little.

When people ask you what type of band you're in, what do you say?

Kardos-Fein: Usually we tell them that we make loud, weird music.

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