The new Album from Yuma Birch Is A Massively Immersive and Pop Laced Experience
The latest album release from Yuma Birch just came out, and this record delves into so much sonic soundscape and spacious tonality that you end up letting it sort of swirl around you.
This is a record that's not afraid to get a little heavy or edgy where it wants to, but seems to always hold on to that natural sort of fluency that pulls you along, and this is one of my favorite aspects of the record as a whole.
It's a pretty big album and spans nine tracks in total, but each song has its own sort of atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, the whole album has a connectivity. It's cohesive and consistent with certain aspects. That semi-filmic backbone is thriving a lot of the time, and they have no problem creating soundscapes that feel a little grungy or experimental, with fuzz tones and vastness, but there are loads of catchy elements to a lot of the songs as well.
Certain tracks are meant to help create that boisterous and spacious atmosphere, like the song's intro, "Emotional Devotional," which demonstrates some of their harder-hitting approaches with guitar tone and drumming, but also provides the level of depth and layers that you can expect to hear plenty more of from the rest of the record.
That's the trick with this release. It will hit hard where it wants to, but always has this sort of bubble around it. There's always an element that lets you swim through the soundscapes that it provides, and you become part of that.
Honestly, if you listen to the full record from start to finish in one shot, it's more of an experience than anything else, especially if you do that with headphones on.
So, this first track really opens the door for the record and does a great job simply because it's giving you some of these particular staples the rest of the album will provide, but it's also something that doesn't give away everything.
"Valentine's" gives much more of that floatiness and indie-pop undertone that rises up to the surface over time. The vocals are catchy, but you also have that sort of '90s underground alternative vibe going on as well.
There are also loads of textural layers coming through, and it feels very lush because of that.
Most of all, this track showcases a lot more pop sensibility. You can tell that they didn't let go of the pop songwriting aspect of things, but rather sort of contorted it and created this semi-darker, more spacious aesthetic around that so that you're able to just get swallowed up by everything, but still have a very memorable song.
"Sailor" tells a great story and gives off this sort of whispering vocal approach that pulls you into that story even further. There are keys that feel almost like organs that are a huge element in why this track has the semi-haunt that it does. The record has a little bit of a fantastical underbelly to it.
The whole thing comes through with that heavy-handed cinematic approach, and a lot of that has to do with the way the vocals are performed in such a theatrical manner at times, which is something that songs like this one demonstrate.
However, that also has to do with how they incorporate all this different instrumentation and are able to bring together the natural tones of guitars and vocals with the digital tones of keys.
The mix of this record is also absolutely outstanding, which is not something I talk about all the time, but I feel like there was a lot of work put into how the aesthetic of the record comes across.
I'm not sure who mixed their album, but whoever it was absolutely understood the mission.
"I Wanna Tell You" is one of my favorites on the record, and I feel like that's because it has a very current and outlandish pop feel to it. It's super catchy; I love the male and female vocals that bounce back and forth, which happens plenty throughout the record itself, but here it's done in a way that has a bit of a hook to it.
It's the whole callback vocal thing. They do it super well, and other times they sing together almost like a duet, but when they do the vocals that speak back to each other like this, it really sets a different tone for the song.
All in all, this was an immense record that felt super immersive. They pull you into their entire world, which is definitely something that isn't where I'm sitting right now.
It's been a while since I heard a record that served as this much of an escape. It pulls you away from whatever you're doing and puts you in their realm for a chunk of time, which is brilliant.
It's almost like reading a book. When you do read a book, you don't skip chapters. Nor would I suggest skipping songs on this record, for the exact same reason.
It's all about that vibe that it gives off. The songs are even put in an order that makes perfect sense in how they flow together instrumentally and musically.
There are definitely a few surprises around the corners, and I love that, along with their experimental approach that's not over the top. They do give you good bits of outside-the-box thinking when it comes to songwriting and production.
So, take a deep dive into this one because it's a great experience, and again, listen with headphones on because it's the best way to soak in all of these stories and tones coming at you.
Remember where you heard it first.
Comments