Cosmos often reminds me of OK Computer, in the sense that it feels unsatisfied with pursuing rock music for the sake of making just another rock record. Based on title alone, Cosmos seems aware that it’s more interested in the expansion of Yellow Ostrich’s vocabulary than it is in playing it safe.
In the post-Radiohead world, these guys are going to blend in just fine. Terrors is awesome, with a killer chorus, and Shades busts out a riff not unlike some of the stuff Radiohead would have been doing a few records back. I love My Moons, which has a great backbeat and a super catchy chorus.
Cosmos is one of those rare albums that has zero filler. Every track is great, so I want to write about all of them. Instead, I’m picking just one: How Do You Do It, which has the amazing opening lines:
How do you start when you know it’s gonna end? How do you wait if you never plan ahead? How do you laugh when you see what makes you cry? How do you sleep at night when you know you’re going to die? How do you do it?
Those are some fully loaded questions. Lyrically, they feel like questions Yellow Ostrich is interested in asking because they know everything ends. What sort of music do you make if, one day, you know it’s going to end? It seems clear, based on *Cosmos&, that Yellow Ostrich is planing to leave their mark.