And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out

its 10th, and undoubtedly sexiest album, Yo La Tengo creates a smoky, sonic novella to love and lovers, a lonesome pop record as beautifully stark as it is happy, and as full of detailed nooks and crannies as its riddling title implies. Songs like "Our Way to Fall", "Last Days of Disco" and especially "You Can Have It All" are simple pop love notes destined to become standards in some brave romantic world better than ours (if they are diary entries from the Kaplan/Hubley marriage, that is one happy union).
The farfisa/guitar combo still propels most of these songs, but as Yo la Tengo has evolved as a band, its appetite for studio creations has been greatly broadened. Soft but thick sonic textures adorn nearly all these tracks, particularly the bookends--the opening drone-pop mantra "Everyday" is fine indie-dub, and "Night Falls on Hoboken", the 13-minute guitar space-out that closes the record, is hued psychedelic ambience for people with long attention spans.|