Yacht-Shangri-La

YACHT is an old moniker—one Jona Bechtolt has recorded under since 2002—but the project didn’t take off until 2009, when Bechtolt added vocalist Claire Evans and released See Mystery Lights. That album marked an important shift, away from Bechtolt’s old beat-centric laptop productions toward a more energetic and poppy sound. And while the duo had clearly caught on to something, especially with fuller tracks like “The Afterlife” and “Summer Song,” they hadn’t quite yet defined their nascent dance-punk style.

So Shangri-La scans as something of a breakout for a band clearly primed for one. From the first burbling, filtered guitars of “Utopia,” Shangri-La has an impressive swagger about it. Evans’ grand, androgynous vocal works against a warm, rapid-fire bassline; the whole thing comes off a bit like focused, early-career Of Montreal.

There’s plenty more to like. “One Step” and “Paradise Engineering” feature the album’s two knockout lyrics, delivered in Evans’ half-sung, half-spoken yelp. The second track, “Dystopia (The Earth Is on Fire),” rides a thick, “Dance Yrself Clean”-style synth and a bubblegum hook whose lyrics (“The earth is on fire/We don’t have no daughter/Let the motherf***er burn) belie its catchiness. Indeed, Bechtolt is a compulsive studio whiz in much the same vein as James Murphy, and Evans possesses a similar deadpan wit. The proliferation of cowbell and krautrock-leaning synths, too, reinforce the LCD comparisons.

Shangri-La concludes with its title track’s refrain, “If I can’t go to heaven, let me go to L.A./Shangri-la la la.” It’s a fittingly devil-may-care sentiment for a group that has found, after no small wait, a signature sound and the confidence to back it up. On the heels of LCD’s retirement and this undeniable disc, the whole one-door-closes maxim may have a shred of truth to it.