All-Star Stuff: If By Yes’ “You Feel Right” (Cornelius Mix)

Musical supergroups usually end up the butt of jokes – remember the way 40-Year-Old Virgin treated Asia? – so take If By Yes with a little caution. Yet this one does have some real potential to tread above Judd Apatow punchlines, featuring Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto, Araki Yuko of The Cornelius Group, Shimizu Hirotaka and Petra Haden of The Rentals. The group’s debut full-length Salt On Sea Glass throws even more art-rock juggernauts into the mix, boasting appearances by the likes of David Byrne and Wilco’s Nels Cline. The always imaginative Cornelius also stops by, and offers his own “mix” on first track “You Feel Right” which can be heard below. At its core “You Feel Right” comes off like a rather straightforward bit of songwriting – lazy, lovely singing given room to stretch out and sound off all over the place, sometimes giving in to fits of Dirty-Projectors-ish flights of fancy. It’s actually tough to get a handle on what exactly If By Yes sounds like because this song has Cornelius’ fingerprints all over it once you move away from the vocals. He continues to mess with the cut-copy pastiche he explored deeply on Sensuous, moments on “You Feel Right” reminiscent of tracks like “Toner” or “Wataridori.” Cornelius also plays around with the backing “ahhhhs,” dropping them in and out amongst the other twinkly blurbles. It’s controlled chaos where every glob of dropped paint happens to land in just the perfect place. Seek out Salt On Sea Glass if you want to know what If By Yes are actually about, but if you are jonesin’ for new Cornelius well, here ya go. Courtesy Tokyo’s Coolest Sound.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ARQw3AnOg0″]