One Liner: Weird as hell ambient and experimental noise pop
Poster Position: 3 (11)
Both Weekends.
Sunday at 4:30
Thoughts: Sean Lee Bowie is their original name, and although they were born in Miami, and raised in Knoxville, TN, they are now based in Turin, Italy. I wish I could just bugger off to Turin, Italy and make weird music. Their background is odd, which makes it interesting. They were raised in Knoxville, but found it dull and unpleasant, so they self-taught their self drums, bass, guitar, and keyboard as a way of escaping the boredom. At 20, they moved to San Diego and then L.A. For a while they performed as Teams, doing a chillwave sort of thing. They started this project in 2015, although I can't easily find where the Yves Tumor name comes from. There definitely is mention in interviews about how they do not want their old name, or their history, to be what fans know and talk about. They want for it to be more mysterious and cloistered, so that they can cut off fans from parts of their life. (I hope that paragraph was not as confusing to read as it was to write. I am so old.).
4 albums on Spotify - 2015's When Man Fails You, 2018's Safe in the Hands of Love, 2020's Heaven to a Tortured Mind, and then 2023's painfully named Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds). Just awful to type all of that out.
In 2018, Pitchfork listed their album Safe in the Hands of Love in their top ten for the year. #10. So, I tried it out just to see if I could find something new and great. Nope. Here is what I said: "Starts off kinda OK, but literally couldn't finish the last song. His Spotify bio mentions making "confrontational noise," and I'd firmly agree with that thought. And say hell no." One critic gushed that this "album "dwarfs everything the artist has released by several orders of magnitude. The leap is so audacious it's disorienting."" SO AUDACIOUS IT'S DISORIENTING! Also, unpleasant to listen to!
I tried "Limerence," the top track from that first album, with 1.3 million streams, and it is almost ambient music. Actually, not sure why I said almost, it is ambient music. No actual lyrics, just a lady talking about random crap over a little synth riff. I don't get it. Wait, that is also their top streamer? Really weird thing on Spotify right now, there is a version with a cover that includes a lighter looking like it is about to light a guy's hand on fire, and that version has 26.3 million streams and sounds just like the album version. But I can't actually find that copy in their discography when I search it. Strange. Anyway, here is that whack tune.
The top track from the 2018 album is called "Licking an Orchid," and has 19.5 million streams. More of an actual beat and rhythm to it, which is nice, but it never really gets anywhere (until the end when terrible noises happen). Actually, "Gospel for a New Century" (from the 2020 album) isn't terrible. The backing track is kind of wild, but I like it. I am not a big Frank Ocean guy, but several of these songs sound like what I think of when I think of Frank Ocean. "Super Stars" is the one that really nails that feel for me. The new album leans more rock and roll? Lots of synths and electro sounds, but still there are definite drums and guitars going on. None of those songs have really caught on with streaming though. Yet. It is a kind of sophisticated rock sound, not bashing drums and guitars but more like slinky bass lines and staccato drum backing that feels like it would work in a fancy department store.
We'll do one more from that new album so you can get a sense of the new sound. This is "Echolalia," which has 4.5 million streams.
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