See Mystery Lights

Jona Bechtolt-- founding member of YACHT, former member of the Blow-- is a huge talent, something that may not have been readily apparent on any of his three previous LPs. Those albums, created largely as solo endeavors, will not have prepared listeners for See Mystery Lights. Now an official partnership between Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans, who performed on several songs on 2007's I Believe In You, Your Magic Is Real, YACHT finally feel like a full-fledged band with direction and vision, particularly given the added weight (or rather, levity) of Evans' influence.

Back when Jona Bechtolt was part of the Blow, it wasn’t clear how far he was going to go in a few short years. The sparse, indie-girl aesthetic cultivated by Khaela Maricich was that whole band, with Bechtolt an unheralded figure in the background, the engineer of some addictive tunes. (Incidentally, where did Maricich go? Silent on her blog, without new material in three years—a return would really be great.) But since that time, Bechtolt has capitalised on a strong Internet tendency, building up the beginnings of a promising musical career. I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real, a good-natured electronic album, had a stellar lead single (“See a Penny (Pick it Up)”) and a bunch of other effusive but transient songs. Then, in 2008, YACHT wrote “Summer Song” in honour of tourmates LCD Soundsystem and scored a record deal with DFA. (If only it were that easy for the rest of the hoping-for-fame masses.) Bechtolt added Claire Evans as a full-time member, and scene was set for a sprint to the spotlight.