- A dazzling EP of emotional, out-of-this-world love songs.
- Yves Tumor loves to keep us guessing—they can switch genres from soaring pop balladry to gothy shoegaze at the drop of a beat. If you've ever tried to explain their sound to someone, you know that you'd be better off just playing the music out loud first. Words don't really cut it. Beyond just the music, a muted online presence and one of the most eclectic aesthetics around has exalted Yves Tumor to near-mythical status.
Still, hearing that their newfound hobby over lockdown was furniture design and reupholstery came as quite the surprise. "I'm deconstructing stuff and turning it into something else, as opposed to creating something from scratch," they explained in an an interview with Michéle Lamy. The approach is reflected back into the music on their latest EP, The Asymptotical World, where Yves Tumor takes liberties with vintage rock sounds. Genre-wise, it's their most focused effort yet, but it's also distinctly Yves Tumor—unflinching and unbounded.
Opener "Jackie," with its crunchy drums and grunge-inspired guitar line, lands with the subtlety of a comet. On the rip-roaring pop-punk of "Crushed Velvet," each instrument howls and shrieks like they're giving you all that they've got. (The hook on this song has been stuck in my head for the past week.) Elsewhere, the vocal stylings and busy instrumentation on "Katrina" transported me back to Blink-182's "I Miss You," a comparison that made more sense on discoxvering that Chris Greatti—who has previously worked with Blink-182—co-produced the EP. This borrowing, and subsequent mutation, of elements from late '80s rock, early '00s punk and psychedelia means The Asymptotical World can be as noisy and off-rails as it likes without ever feeling inaccessible.
Yves played a variety of roles in volatile relationships over the course of this brief EP. They come across as jilted and disturbed on "Jackie," but on "Secrecy Is Incredibly Important To The Both Of Them" they're stoic and steeled: "How can I miss you / If you won't go away" they utter in monotone, a hurricane-proof vocal performance amidst a cyclone of searing guitar and biting drums. There's a cheekiness to Tumor's vocal delivery, even when sex and depravity hang off of romantic declaration. They're the words of someone who wants to be loved but won't necessarily risk giving it back.
The Asymptotical World seizes on the flashes of abrasive guitar and '90s rock from last year's Heaven To A Tortured Mind LP. Here, they fully realize that sound, transforming into a swaggering, devilish rockstar. It's a short but densely layered EP littered with moments of undeniable mastery. Mind you, it's no easy ride—lines like "These days have been tragic / I ain't sleepin' / Refuse to eat a thing" portray a tortured soul surrounded by other tortured souls. Among all the bruised love and lingering torment, it seems like everyone is sick in Yves Tumor's asymptotical world—it's just that nobody else quite knows it as well as they do.
Tracklist01. Jackie
02. Crushed Velvet
03. Secrecy Is Incredibly Important To The Both of Them
04. Tuck feat. NAKED
05. ...And Loyalty
06. Katrina