Spectreview: Yves Tumor – Heaven to a Tortured Mind

Yves Tumor channels the all-time greats in their experimental yet highly accessible fourth album.

-WITCH HAZE-

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Sean Bowie (aka Yves Tumor) is one of the brightest minds in music at the moment, but it wasn’t obvious until 2018’s Safe In The Hands of Love. That record wove a dense quilt of disparate styles into a powerful, terrifying portrait of suffering, and if history worked properly it would be considered a modern classic.

If this new release is any indicator, suffering seems to be the connecting motif between Tumor’s works. Heaven to a Tortured Mind is still trapped in a wracked headspace, but the focus is on longing: for company, for love, for understanding. To support this, Tumor refocuses on more soulful, R&B-based songwriting with an newfound emphasis on vocal melody. The bouts of distortion and in-your-face drum blasts are still here, but compared to Safe the edges are somewhat sanded down, creating an altogether more accessible environment. Unlikely as it is, Tumor might even score a hit from this record.

While it’s more of an uneven listen than its predecessor, its highs are arguably higher. Tumor doesn’t have the perfect voice, but they delivers their lines with the sheer force and swagger of the all-time greats, and Heaven’s best tracks take a decisive Prince comparison to its dizzying conclusion. The bombastic opening track, “Gospel of a New Century,” is one such example; “Kerosene!”, as well, drips with desire (in part thanks to incredible guest vocalist Diana Gordon), while tracks like the gorgeous Isley-like “Super Stars” and the slow-burning closer “A Greater Love” feel like cyborg mutations of classic soul. The production, as per usual, is simply breathtaking; its loud, forceful and all-encompassing, and each instrument (especially the percussion) is captured not just ideally but in uniquely fitting ways.

Ironically then, Heaven suffers most from an imbalance between its accessible qualities and Tumor’s experimental tendencies. That’s always been a difficult balance to ride, and Safe arguably did it better. Where most of these tracks would be fine material in a common coffee shop, they often lack the searing bite of Tumor’s earlier work. There’s also a little bit of a pacing problem that stems from some weaker moments, the majority of which are too atonal to fit into the record’s soulful mood. “Medicine Burn,” for instance, is badass but does too many circles in place, and “Folie Imposée” feels vaporous, like the skeleton of a old Daft Punk track. These aren’t sour moments individually, but compared to the colorful majesty of its best tracks, they end up feel a tad staid.

Where Heaven‘s strength lies less in exciting risk-taking than comparatively conventional compositions, the tradeoff is the prospect of a Yves Tumor record soundtracking a party. Where Tumor’s albums are usually introspective experiences that intoxicate and repulse in equal measure, it’s easy than ever to openly groove to this music. Heaven to a Tortured Mind makes internal torment a communal experience, and in a certain light that’s a phenomenal achievement. It shouldn’t be missed.

Highly recommended for too much porn.