Yves Tumor
Heaven To a Tortured Mind
SCORE: 7.5 Princes out of 10
Yves Tumor release their most accessible album to date. Its undeniable passion, charisma and blazing energy make for a very entertaining listen, but in turn, it sacrifices some of the uniqueness that distinguished the artist’s previous work.
Every self-respecting artist will always aim for some sort of change or progress, and even if this doesn’t result in a total reinvention, it is inevitable for new influences to creep into the subconscious and come out as newly found nuances, differentiating each work. Now, unless you’re a post-rock band, VOMIR or a militant of the extremist realms, change is mostly welcomed, and nobody can blame artists for wanting to take chances. But what happens when this change doesn’t represent any sort of growth, and it actually comes at the expense of sounding sacrificing personality? Can we still blame artist for trying to become accessible? Can we blame Yves Tumor for leaving behind their complex genre deconstructions just to sound like Thundercat or Homeshake?
This metamorphosis shouldn’t be surprising at all, as to dwell into Yves’ catalogue is to dwell into the work of a leap-taking artist, but more than just jumping from one sound to another, the trend relied more on improving upon the elements used on each release: When Man Fails You (2015) was a noise-ridden sonic assault that was equal parts directionless and captivating; Serpent Music (2016) took advantage of its disjointed structure to create an even more captivating experience through the use of sound collages, abstract structures and the incorporation of a deconstructed take on soul. The undeniable peak came with Safe in The Hands of Love (2018) in which all these elements were masterfully put together, going from IDM to brit-pop to noise in a beautiful, cohesive way.
However, in Heaven To a Tortured Mind’s case, it feels more like an extension of Safe… in the sense that a good third of the album’s tracks sound like offshoots of “Noid” and “Licking an Orchid”, with their heavy use of groove, Prince-like vocal delivery and flare, accompanying female voices and straightforward instrumentation; instead of opting for genre-fluid versatility, the goal was to remain on course with those dynamics. The result is an album that feels conceptual due to its aesthetic insistence: it’s almost as if Yves is playing character and this is their introduction chapter.
This is not to say that Heaven lacks diversity, but almost all the styles that were used to give it shape, serve the same purpose: it’s all in favor of sounding as theatrical and bigger than life as humanly possible. The album even starts right away with the hard-hitting histrionics of “Gospel For a New Century”, and from there, it just doesn’t stop. Tumor rushes through a compile of their most accessible work to date, going from one hard-hitting song to another with a commanding presence that demands to be seen and heard; the showpersonship is magnetic, but it doesn’t leave any space for vulnerability amidst all the bombastic flare that surrounds it.
From “Folie Imposée” onwards, the the album kind of gets tired of itself and decides to strip away all the glamour and the last set of songs have a charm that lies within their fragility and simplicity. Even if it’s too close to sounding like a Pete Bjorn tune, “Strawberry Privilege” feels refreshing, as it is rewarding to hear backing vocals that don’t sound comically over the top like Julia Cumming (from the tragically overrated Sunflower Bean) on “Dream Palette”, or Diana Gordon on “Kerosene!”. They might have aimed for anthemic or emotional, but in the great scope of Yves’ career, better results have been achieved with more restrained performances.
Even as Yves break away from the unique world they were creating with their previous work, Heaven still retains some key elements that serve as callbacks to the more experimental moments of their career: “Medicine" Burn” has the same slithering cadence of “Let The Lioness in You Flow Freely”, but in a more rock-oriented context; “Hasdallen Lights” recalls the soul cuts in Serpent Music down to the hazy production style which makes the song feel like a dreamy detour, and “Folie Imposée” will bring to mind the IDM-flavored tracks like “Honesty” and “All The Love We Have Now”. It’s safe to say that Yves remains true no matter how much they decide to change.
The passion and charisma that Yves puts into each song is undeniable and these aspects singlehandedly carry the album more than the songs themselves; however, it should be noted that, structurally, the tracks are great. Tumor is proving to be a gifted producer and multi-instrumentalist (the bassline in “Identity Trade” is genius), but the overall exaggerated delivery feels as if Yves were trying to convince themselves (and us) that this was the right road to take. Maybe it was the right choice at the moment, but, hopefully, it is just a brief stop on the way to something far more great.
