Stream: Yoncalla - Yumi Zouma

At last the long wait is pretty much over... Yumi Houma's debut full length album Yoncalla drops on Friday, and the best part is you don't even have to wait until then to hear it, because the band have just unveiled the full thing via a full album stream on Hype Machine and you can check it out in full via the embedded player below.

I've been listening to Yoncalla for a couple of weeks and it is everything I'd hoped for - gorgeously intimate and beautifully soft. Moving from recording over long distance to getting together in one place has only emphasised this, and I can't help but feel like this is one of my favourite releases in what is already shaping up to be a vintage year for the long play format.

Stream: Short Truth - Yumi Zouma

We are super close to New Zealand outfit Yumi Zouma's debut full length release Yoncalla, and it's a peach of a record - packed full of exactly the sort of soft-chords and harmonies we have come to expect. Back to tease us with another track, the band have recently unveiled another new track...

Short Truth is a lovely warm and upliftingly weightless track, those trademark muted guitars, warm keys vocal harmonies... Welcome to the sound of summer.

Limited 12": smarturl.it/YZYoncallaVinyl Apple: smarturl.it/YumiZoumaYoncalla ___ Yumi Zouma's debut album, Yoncalla, due out May 27 on Cascine (and Arch Hill in Australia, Rallye in Japan and Double Deer in Indonesia). The band will embark on a tour in support of Yoncalla that stretches across New Zealand, North America, Europe and Japan starting next month. Dates below. Where Yumi Zouma’s 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. “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. 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. Additionally, Yoncalla sees Yumi Zouma continue their tradition of creating collectable vinyl releases, with the new album including a limited grey 7” that includes two studio outtakes from the recording sessions. The 7” will be bundled with the first 500 copies of the Yoncalla 12”. These outtakes are exclusive to the limited edition vinyl and will not appear digitally. To capture the concepts on Yoncalla, New Zealand visual artist Henrietta Harris was tapped to create the cover art, illustrating the band together on a front cover for the first time. TOUR DATES *tickets @ www.yumizouma.com May 25 - San Francisco, CA @ Brick + Mortar (w/ Maria Usbeck) May 26 - Los Angeles, CA @ Los Globos (w/ Maria Usbeck) May 28 - Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust (w/ Maria Usbeck) June 2 - Boston, MA @ Middle East June 8 - Washington, DC @ DC9 June 10 - Montreal, QC @ Brasserie Beaubien June 11 - Toronto, ON @ The Garrison June 21 - London, UK @ Moth Club (tickets) June 22 - Paris, FR @ Point Ephémère (tickets) June 23 - Amsterdam, NL @ Sugar Factory Small Hall June 24 - Berlin, DE @ Karrera Klub Birthday Bash at Bi Nuu June 29 - Austin, Texas @ The Parish (w/ Jessy Lanza, DJ Taye and Kedr Livanskiy) June 30 - Dallas, Texas @ Club Dada (w/ Jessy Lanza, DJ Taye and Kedr Livanskiy) July 1 - McAllen, Texas @ Yerberia Cultura September 12 - Tokyo, Japan @ WWW September 13 - Nagoya, Japan @ Tokuzo September 14 - Osaka, Japan @ Pangea ___ Yumi Zouma on FB: on.fb.me/1RWozre Cascine on FB: on.fb.me/1jAp5ZG

Stream: Barricade (Matter Of Fact) - Yumi Zouma

Barricade (Matter Of Fact) got unveiled last week and it's another great track from Yumi Zouma in advance of their debut album Yoncalla.

Barricade started life as a collaborative jam session - a first for the band at the time. The end result is apparently a long way from those initial moments of lofi freeform collaboration, when band members Josh and Charlie sat in Charlie's apartment with an unplugged bass and guitar respectively, Christie humming out melodies. Whilst Barricade is much more polished than its origins would suggest, that collaborative approach enabled the band to be more collaborative and distil the best bits into the track you hear now. The result is stunning as always - I can't wait to get my ears around the album.

Preorder Vinyl: smarturl.it/YZYoncallaVinyl Apple: smarturl.it/YumiZoumaYoncalla Spotify: smarturl.it/YumiZoumaSpotify ___ "Barricade (Matter Of Fact)” is the second single taken from Yoncalla, the debut album by Yumi Zouma. Yoncalla will be released May 27 by Cascine (Arch Hill in Australia, Rallye in Japan and Double Deer in Indonesia). This spring, the Yumis head out on tour that stretches across New Zealand, North America, Europe and Japan. Dates below. Where Yumi Zouma’s 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. “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. 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. Yoncalla sees Yumi Zouma continue their tradition of creating collectable vinyl releases, with the new album including a limited grey 7” that features two studio outtakes from the recording sessions. The 7” will be bundled with the first 500 copies of the Yoncalla 12”. These outtakes are exclusive to the limited edition vinyl and will never appear digitally. To capture the concepts on Yoncalla, New Zealand visual artist Henrietta Harris was tapped to create the cover art, illustrating the band together on a front cover for the first time. TOUR DATES www.yumizouma.com May 4 - Christchurch, NZ @ Blue Smoke (w/ Doprah) May 5 - Dunedin, NZ @ Re Fuel (w/ Doprah) May 6 - Auckland, NZ @ The Crystal Palace (w/ Doprah) May 7 - Wellington, NZ @ Meow (w/ Doprah) May 25 - San Francisco, CA @ Brick + Mortar (w/ Maria Usbeck) May 26 - Los Angeles, CA @ Los Globos (w/ Maria Usbeck) May 28 - Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust (w/ Maria Usbeck) June 2 - Boston, MA @ Middle East June 8 - Washington, DC @ DC9 June 10 - Montreal, QC @ Brasserie Beaubien June 11 - Toronto, ON @ The Garrison June 21 - London, UK @ Moth Club (tickets) June 22 - Paris, FR @ Point Ephémère (tickets) June 23 - Amsterdam, NL @ Sugar Factory Small Hall June 24 - Berlin, DE @ Karrera Klub Birthday Bash at Bi Nuu September 12 - Tokyo, Japan @ WWW September 13 - Nagoya, Japan @ Tokuzo September 14 - Osaka, Japan @ Pangea ___ Yumi Zouma on FB: on.fb.me/1RWozre Cascine on FB: on.fb.me/1jAp5ZG

Stream: Keep It Close To Me - Yumi Zouma

Blogger's favourite Yumi Zouma have at long last announced the release of their debut album, Yoncalla, and ahead of its 27 May release the band have put out the first single to come from the album, Keep It Close To Me.

Having originally grown up together in Christhurch, New Zealand, the band created their twice sold-out debut EP and EP II spread across three continents, with members in Auckland, Paris and New York. The success of those EPs led to the band touring extensively, and the time on tour enabled them to write together in one place for the first time, and during a three-week period in Paris they recorded their debut album. Mixed in Philippe Zdar's Motorbass studio during a week last October the album is now ready for the world, and Keep It Close To Me sounds like the band at their best. 

In the words of guitarist Charlie Ryder, “Yumi Zouma has always been an exercise in refining ideas and collaborating, 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.”

Preorder Vinyl: http://smarturl.it/YZYoncallaVinyl (first 500 come with limited edition 7" containing two unreleased tracks) Apple: http://smarturl.it/YoncallaYumiZouma Spotify: http://smarturl.it/YumiZoumaSpotify _____ "Keep It Close To Me” is the first single from Yumi Zouma's debut album, Yoncalla, due out May 27 on Cascine (and Arch Hill in Australia, Rallye in Japan and Double Deer in Indonesia). The band will embark on a tour in support of Yoncalla that stretches across New Zealand, North America, Europe and Japan starting next month. Dates below. Where Yumi Zouma’s 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. “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. 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. Additionally, Yoncalla sees Yumi Zouma continue their tradition of creating collectable vinyl releases, with the new album including a limited grey 7” that includes two studio outtakes from the recording sessions. The 7” will be bundled with the first 500 copies of the Yoncalla 12”. These outtakes are exclusive to the limited edition vinyl and will not appear digitally. To capture the concepts on Yoncalla, New Zealand visual artist Henrietta Harris was tapped to create the cover art, illustrating the band together on a front cover for the first time. TOUR DATES: May 4 - Christchurch, NZ @ Blue Smoke (w/ Doprah) May 5 - Dunedin, NZ @ Re Fuel (w/ Doprah) May 6 - Auckland, NZ @ The Crystal Palace (w/ Doprah) May 7 - Wellington, NZ @ Meow (w/ Doprah) May 25 - San Francisco, CA @ Brick + Mortar (w/ Maria Usbeck) May 26 - Los Angeles, CA @ Los Globos (w/ Maria Usbeck) May 28 - Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust (w/ Maria Usbeck) June 2 - Boston, MA @ Middle East June 8 - Washington, DC @ DC9 June 10 - Montreal, QC @ Brasserie Beaubien June 11 - Toronto, ON @ The Garrison June 21 - London, UK @ Moth Club (tickets) June 22 - Paris, FR @ Point Ephémère (tickets) June 23 - Amsterdam, NL @ Sugar Factory Small Hall June 24 - Berlin, DE @ Karrera Klub Birthday Bash at Bi Nuu September 12 - Tokyo, Japan @ WWW September 13 - Nagoya, Japan @ Tokuzo September 14 - Osaka, Japan @ Pangea ___ Yumi Zouma on FB: on.fb.me/1RWozre Cascine on FB: on.fb.me/1jAp5ZG

Video: Catastrophe - Yumi Zouma

Gorgeous new track and video from Yumi Zouma that perfectly encapsulates that whistful feeling of hopelessness when your mood is entirely dependent on someone else's actions. Love this.

Catastrophe is taken from the group's EP II, released through Cascine on March 10. You can pre-order it here.