<p><span><span>- Where the noisy and oppressive grit of <em>Safe in the Hands of Love</em> allowed American experimentalist Yves Tumor to explore a world of brilliant chaos, their refined new album <em>Heaven To a Tortured Mind</em> is more to the point. This is both a pro and a con: the album luxuriates in its contemporary take on the lustful, burning desire of <strong>Prince</strong> and <strong>D’Angelo</strong>, but does so at the cost of some of the electronic mayhem that initially piqued my interest in Yves Tumor as a project.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In saying that, it’s hard to feel bummed about this album being more rock oriented when it sounds so damn good. Kicking off from the album opener and lead single, the aptly titled <em>Gospel For a New Century</em>, Tumor channels a retro flame centred around bustling horns and howling vocals. Tumor personifies a love song that’s twisted and fragmented through oppressive instrumentation. The track <em>Romanticist </em>is structured similarly, featuring guitars and scraping samples that sing over Tumor and guest vocalist <strong>Kelsey Lu</strong>, who I’m thrilled to hear appear, even briefly. Ending with exploding fireworks and an intense guitar riff, that track flows into the fantastic <em>Dream Palette</em> with plenty of tense guitars and scene-stealing backing vocals from <strong>Sunflower Bean</strong>’s <strong>Julia Cummings</strong>.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Likewise,<em> Super Stars </em>emerges with the emotion and flair of an R&B spin on a <strong>David Bowie</strong>, <em>Ziggy Stardust</em> era cut. This glam rock serves this newfound edge to Yves Tumor, floating here, but even more prominently on the album’s standout single <em>Kerosene!</em> - exclamation point required.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Kerosene!</em> is a gritty, romantic duet between Tumor and vocalist <em>Diana Gordon</em>. As a track, you’re lured in with the presumption that it’s going to be a sleepy ballad with soft guitars. However the chorus kicks in with some of the most Prince-level glam guitars and incredibly sultry Diana Gordon solo verses that add real flavour to the record. <em>Kerosene!</em> is impeccable, acting as a sly revival of the proto-glam rock that has since gone and faded into memory of the mainstream.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It could be said that a sign of a true experimental nature is not continuing to veer into noise music, but rather to be free to veer into something more accessible and unexpected. As much as I like my hard, jagged edges, I'm prepared to admit that it’s this approach which cements Yves Tumor as one of the most exciting experimental musicians heading into a new decade.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Sean Tayler.</span></span></p>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3865782724/size=large/bgcol=f…; seamless><a href="http://yves-tumor.bandcamp.com/album/heaven-to-a-tortured-mind">Heaven To A Tortured Mind by Yves Tumor</a></iframe><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G-9QCsH3OQM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>