Yves Tumor and the Future of Rock

Sean Bowie is back with an extraordinary new album. Like the late artist with whom he shares a last name, Sean, under the artist name Yves Tumor, transforms himself with each new album. In his latest, Yves Tumor takes nods from Throbbing Gristle and Massive Attack on Heaven to a Tortured Mind, his fourth proper LP and second since he signed with Warp Records. Tumor arrives in 2020 sounding like his industrial predecessors and, simultaneously, like nothing else. 

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Whereas Tumor’s last album began with the plodding of brass over a jazzy experimental ambiance, Tortured Mind begins with “Gospel for A New Century,” an R&B rocker with a danceable beat and upbeat, regal brass. The kickoff of the album recalls the rhythms of early Bjork and trip hop, and Tumor’s layered vocals soar, unfiltered by the dense electronics he is normally associated with. “Medicine Burn,” however, with its blaring distortion, is a startling experimental rock song with blown out percussion and searing synths characteristic of his earlier material. In the back half of the song, voices swirl, maniacal laughing ensues, and uneasiness takes over the sonic space. It’s not as easy-listening as the former track, but then again, Yves Tumor isn’t one to respect sonic boundaries.

“Kerosene!” takes the cake as the best song of the album, and one of the best in Yves Tumor’s relatively young recording career. A somber melody, atmospheric production, and the most astounding part—Yves Tumor’s voice paired with Diana Gordon—work perfectly together to paint a dreamlike state. Tumor’s lustful croon and call-and-response with Gordon begs comparisons with some of Prince’s most overtly sexual songs. In fact, “Kerosene!” takes more than a few nods from The Purple One, especially when the song erupts into a totally-glam-rock, electrifying guitar solo. The result is a beautiful and intoxicating ballad that, on the surface, seems to be about love. But Tumor’s music is never what it seems, in this case appearing beautiful and uneasy on the surface and then revealing some dark and twisted message. When they state “Just tell me what you need,” they quickly respond with “I need Kerosene!” A song about lust quickly becomes about pyromania.

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Themes of love coincide with hypnosis and danger—in “Romanticism,” a song about a boy they seem to be infatuated with, Tumor offers his entirety to the object of his affection, letting himself be swallowed up by a “hurricane.” We hear his message in the background—a torrential storm of voices screeching and a wash of synths. In “Super Stars,” Tumor pairs his falsetto with his baritone to an incredible effect, putting his iconic androgyny on stunning display. However, it’s “Strawberry Privilege” that stands out in the latter half of the album, with both a capella vocals and an infectious, thumping bass-line.

Yves Tumor creates an ambiance of jazz, darkness, gloom, pop, and distortion in his composition, and it’s the rhythm section on the album that helps cement the album as both incredibly listenable and more pop-friendly than his prior entries. Though the songs themselves seem to be a largely solo affair, a host of relatively low-key artists and contributors, like Gina Ramirez on bass for a many of the songs and Henry Schiff on drums, show the work of many to create a stunning art-rock masterpiece.

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Tortured Mind condenses the experimental and disorienting sonics of his last album Safe in the Hands of Love into a style that incorporates and bounces between so many genres that it’s one of those albums that is exceedingly difficult to pin down. Upon first listening, the only thing I could say for sure is that Tumor is making rock new, taking a genre so beaten down and exploited and breathing new life into it. 

It is one of, if not the best, new albums I’ve listened to so far this year.

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