Gone is the sparkling and eminent alt-pop era of Yumi Zouma. Having been geographically separated as a band mid-tour in 2019, in the very wake of the pandemic, Yumi Zouma’s fourth album arrives from a far more disconsolate place, embracing an anti-euphoria that tints each track with an opaque tenebrosity.
‘Present Tense’ is an amalgamate effort from the creative hubs of London, New York, Florence, Los Angeles, and New Zealand. Whilst New Zealand previously acted as the outfit’s HQ, each member was scattered by the pandemic, with album contributions therefore made from the sanitary safety of their own homes, with occasional collaborative meet-ups.
This album acts as a continuation of Yumi Zouma’s last ever live show, with a sense of communal mourning captured translucently throughout the record. ‘Give It Hell’ laments this exact show, setting a reflective tone that is built upon as the album slowly takes shape.
Sprightly arrangements decorate the orchestral coda of ‘Mona Lisa’, an upbeat dark pop track that details “a weekend of fool’s gold”, following the tale of misread signs and misleading actions of an ephemeral partner. ‘Honestly, It’s Fine’ equally embraces the climactic dynamics of a hammered piano, delicate string movements and ebullient horn parps. The Robyn synth-pop cadence of 2018’s ‘EP III’ has been muted, and in its place is a forlorn, fawning creature, trying to wrap its head around current events.
‘Haunt’ embraces minimalism with a storytelling walk through vocalist Christie Simpson’s hometown, and the finale ‘Astral Projection’ swells into a looming climax that encapsulates Yumi Zouma’s veritable musicianship, sealing the figurative casket on this 10 track open letter to lost opportunity.
Although ‘Present Tense’ leans on the cumulative distance between its collaborators as its primary subject matter, it generates a distinct vacuity within the record. This album wasn’t devised with Yumi Zouma together in a room, bouncing off each other with an overflowing fountain of ideas. Instead, it embraces the spatial, emotional and musical voids between each instrument, posing the question: “With everything it has thrown at us, where will life take us next?”
7/10
Words: Alisdair Grice
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