Shangri-La

If the choruses on YACHT's fifth record sound like the chants of some maniacal cult, it's because, well, they kinda are. To band founder Jona Bechtolt, YACHT functions as a sort of spiritual community known to profess the deep meaning behind triangles: they sometimes even feature Power Point presentations on this topic during live performances. Vocalist Claire Evans hopped on board for 2009's breakthrough See Mystery Lights and helped transform YACHT from an experimental electronic project to party-starting, dance-punk merrymaking. On the boisterous Shangri-La, it's once again Evans' vocals propelling the band forward. Once mired in detached hipster girl territory, Evans' pipes burst out on bangers like "Dystopia" and "I Walked Alone." As a collective, YACHT's admiration for dance-punk kingpins LCD Soundsystem is no secret. They once dedicated an album cut to James Murphy (See Mystery Lights' "Summer Song") and Shangri-La is rife with well-placed shout outs to their DFA Records overlord: insistent percussion, melody-driving synth, and no shortage of spazzed-out disco basslines. For an artist who has spent his entire career urging listeners to dance and think at the same time, Shangri-La stands as Bechtolt's most invigorating work to date.