Spectreview: Yves Tumor – The Asymptotical World EP

Released: July 15, 2021

Experimental
(Alt Rock)
(Industrial)
(Noise Pop)

-LIGHT CORAL-

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“I touch the hand of my lord
It’s so familiar
How can I miss you
If you won’t go away?”

Pardon the pun, but Yves Tumor’s career has been defined by growth: morphing from a formless mashing of harsh noise, alt-based brooding and sensual textures into something that rests just, just outside the bounds of what you could reasonably conceive of as pop. Last year’s Heaven to a Tortured Mind may not have been their most even work, but it was their most accessible by far, its dips into Isley-like song structures and emotional resonance helping the enigmatic artist garner a larger audience than ever. The Asymptotical World EP, surprise-dropped in mid July, will greet those new fans with an equally-tactile serving of guitar-centered luxuriance. Its six songs demonstrate everything Tumor has established themselves for: mantric lyrics, visceral production, the thin cord they straddle between breakthrough and breakdown.

Where Heaven leaned into the golden era of FM soul and glam, Asymptotical looks back to a period slightly more recent: the icy, brittle feel of early- and mid-2000s’ alternative. Previously-released single “Jackie,” which crosses Tumor’s emotive vocals with starry guitars that smear and scrape across the ears, hits like a freight train. “Secrecy Is Incredibly Important for the Both of Them” rides a talking hi-hat pattern and a surging bass line like classic Bloc Party; “Tuck’s” exploration of power dynamics features NAKED’s Agnes Gryzckowska over industrial clang and filtered harmonics; “…And Loyalty Is A Nuisance Child” opens in a garage and flows into an arena, the sheer size of its guitars almost too much to contain. It’s weird to think that the sounds are beginning to feel nostalgic, and yet so much of this EP feels pulled from what was bubbling amongst the blogs of nearly two decades ago, when rock was simultaneously starting to get both its dance groove and its sense of emergency again.

Yves Tumor continues to be an incredible producer; they, along with co-producers Yves Rothman and Chris Geretti, fashion the EP as a near-overwhelming sensory experience by pushing each instrument to its limits. It’s almost maximalist how far they go to make a simple track like “Crushed Velvet,” with its simple chord strums and 4/4 beat, into a celebration of expression through garment, or how they push the drum part on “Katrina” so that each kick drives into the ears like an erratic heartbeat. Meanwhile Tumor’s lyrics remain less poetic than prosaic – repetitions that replicate the dynamics of an obsessive mind – and while that occasionally makes them feel a little unfinished at first exposure, the approach works because Tumor designs their songs to be circuitous, moment-based dioramas instead of unspooling tales. There’s nary a resolution to be found in an Yves Tumor song, just a bloodletting accompanied by varying levels of pain and ecstasy.

We’re likely well past this point now, but the EP format used to serve some form of utility for an artist; perhaps they wanted to provide holdover material during a dry spell, or to signify a change in their sound, or to experiment with a new direction without committing to a full length. It remains to be seen where The Asymptotical World sits in this spectrum, especially considering how it feels like a natural expansion of what Tumor’s now known for. As an individual release though, the EP continues the hot streak belonging to one of America’s hottest-burning talents.

Recommended for wherever red and blue spotlights meet.