Dear Yumi And The Weather: please forgive me. I confess, I’ve not listened to your music anywhere near enough before. I was wrong. I hope it’s not too late.
It’s not often I’m moved to write a line like that, but having just sat and listened straight through the new album 'It’s All In My Head' (released on 23rd September via Miohmi Records), it seemed like the best thing to do.
It’s a stunner of a record – moving seamlessly and coherently from the fuzzy punk of the opening song 'Imagine' to the mellow, dusky shoegaze of close-out track 'Night Walk'. On the way, you’re taken on a journey through all kinds of temperature and colour.
Yumi... is the project of Ruby Taylor, who recorded, mixed and produced the lot. It’s her first studio album for four years and is centred on and around the latest single 'Be Your Lover'. This is a song overflowing with sexual and sensual energy. As Yumi/Ruby explains, “We are sexual creatures and it's been suppressed through either some religions, society, and even ourselves because of confidence or/and lack of opportunities. This song is inspired by the beautiful and comfortable sexual encounters I had, and is a playful expression to represent these moments.”
You reach the track after three others on the album: 'Imagine', 'It’s All My Head' (a raucous, synth-punky, raw-from-start-to-finish, exploration of emotional confusion) and 'Howl' (a wonderfully layered, energetic song built around a clever refrain which plays on the phrase “air is …”). At this point, you feel like you’ve been grabbed by the hand and pulled along with Yumi... for a whirlwind tour, so the drop in tempo and the sense of moving to a slightly darker place feels luxuriant and welcome.
The next part of the record picks up the energy again, but there’s more variation and an added quirkiness – particularly on 'New Way', which features an addictive constant arpeggio in the background. Another highlight comes at track 8, 'Will You Ever Leave My Mind'. There’s a gorgeous sweeping, epic feel to this one: imagine the immersive euphoria of Lanterns on the Lake combined with the best singalong moment of a Wolf Alice ballad. This is the point you close your eyes and wish for the moment never to end.
But it does, and that’s no bad thing, as it means hearing 'Start As You Mean To Go On' – a full tempo, 80s-tinged number which brings you home to the slow shuffle of 'Night Walk', which fades out into the ether majestically.
It’s been quite a journey, but you’ll want to turn round and start it all again.
Don’t be like me – get this record on, and make sure Yumi... is a part of your musical life. If you're able, try to get your hands on one of the absolutely awesome looking vinyl copies, available on the Yumi And The Weather Bandcamp site.
And, as the nights draw in, try to get down to one of the album launch shows in London (Signature Brew Haggerston, 10th November), Brighton (Hope & Ruin, 1st December) or Portsmouth (Edge of The Wedge, 8th December).
A version of this post was recently published on SongbirdHQ