28 May 2016 - 0 Comments

Yumi Zouma’s evolution has been brisk and organic, despite the band’s members living disparately Auckland, Paris and New York ‐ a shoreline reflecting the changing tides of its ocean. Now, the oceans are more expansive than ever before, with Yumi Zouma’s yearning, sparkling brand of dream pop culminating in the new wave of their first LP, Yoncalla, out today on Cascine in the U.S, Flying Nun in New Zealand & Australia, and Rallye in Japan.  

The wait has been baited; Yumi Zouma’s work comes with  regard around the world. The band sold‐out their first EP twice‐over before its release and before having ever played live. The intense reception to these early tracks resulted in the group’s first practices taking place on arena stages with both Chet Faker and Lorde. Pitchfork hailed The Brae as “an effortless cascade of echoing riffs and enchanting harmonies converging into a mirage of dream‐pop purity”. 2015 saw the launch of their second EP II, alongside multiple tours of Europe, North America, Australia and Asia, sharing stages with such alt-nobility as Autre Ne Veut, Braids, How to Dress Well, Jamie xx, Lower Dens, Leon Bridges, SOPHIE, Tei Shi and TOPS, among others. A deluxe EP Collection 12” was released at the end of the year.

These dizzying days on the road finally enabled the band to write together in the same place at the same time, and during a three‐week pause in Paris, they set to work on what would become Yoncalla. Yumi Zouma’s effortless waves of harmony have been redefined and the creative process laid bare to expose an act more unguarded and interconnected than ever before. Where the previous EPs were created in isolation, capturing the nuances of each member’s life half a world away, the new material was given a singular voice. After a week of mixing in Philippe Zdar's Motorbass studio, the self‐recorded‐and‐produced Yoncallawas born.

‘Yumi Zouma has always been an exercise in refining ideas and collaborating’, reflects guitarist Charlie Ryder, ‘but this was the first time we weren’t limited or protected by distance. With Yoncalla,the process was different, and it can be scary to present raw ideas to your friends ‐ but it’s also incredible to see songs evolve through the sparks of inspiration that bounce between people in the same room.’ That intimacy is apparent on Yoncalla‐ an album about being close to people, rather than miles apart. The closeness holds true in album single Keep It Close To Me, described by Pitchfork as ‘pure relief, like coming home after being away for too long and curling up in your own bed.’

To visualise that concept, New Zealand artist Henrietta Harris was tapped to create the cover art, illustrating the band together on a front cover for the first time. Each member’s portrait is hand‐drawn, but without the individual characteristics that previously separated them. As Pitchfork so intuitively say of vocalist/guitarist Charlie Ryder’s lyrics in Keep It Close To Me, ‘it sounds like he's at least found a home, a comfort, in his bandmates—his friends’.

Yoncalla is out now via Cascine in the United States, Flying Nun in New Zealand & Australia, and Rallye in Japan. Yumi Zouma are Sam Perry, Christie Simpson, Josh Burgess and Charlie Ryder.

Press Highlights

"innocently romantic while packing a breezy, sunlit groove." ‐SPIN

"an effortless cascade of echoing riffs and enchanting harmonies converging into a mirage of dream‐pop purity" ‐Pitchfork

"Yumi Zouma's music ‐ budget‐plush, instantly poignant ‐ sounds placeless." ‐The Guardian

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