It could only be called alchemy, the transformative magic that happens during the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ most tuned-in moments in the studio, when their unique chemistry sparks open a portal, and out comes a song like “Maps” or “Zero” or the latest addition to their canon, “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” — an epic shot-to-the-heart of pure YYYs beauty and power. “The look on Nick's face when that happens,” Karen O says, with a laugh, “it’s primo, man. I know I’m onto something because I can tell it's hitting him somewhere in his soul. We've been doing this together so long, and there are moments when the song comes from God-knows-where, and it feels like there’s a change in the air quality, in the atmosphere, like when it’s about to thunderstorm.” A thunderstorm of a return is what the legendary trio has in store for us in 2022, with the release of Cool It Down, their first new music since 2013’s Mosquito. Their fifth studio album is an eight-track collection, and an expert distillation of their best gifts that impels you to move, and cry, and listen closely and is bound to be a landmark in their catalog.