Yumi is Ruby Taylor on guitars, vocals, and songs. The Weather is Frankie Knight (keys, samples, and backing vocals), Anthony Keegan (bass), and Will Woodfine (drums). This collective’s seventh EP, following “Find Another” (November 2018), “Look at the Night” (April 2018) and their self-titled debut album (September 2018), is out tomorrow; it all started when Ruby posted “Not Again” online late in 2012. Much high-level interest followed, including the likes of 22TRACKS, XLR8R, and The Line of Best, among others.
With an Eastern European-styled soundtrack-opening, All We Can is a six-track introduction to Ruby’s keyboards and programming along the same lines as Meresha: bright, poppy, dreamy, summery, and as infectious as … well, it stays with you long after you’ve stopped playing it! Here we’re also treated to the Kiwi Remix of the debut track from the previous year. “Something Tells Me” (November 2015) gives us four more tracks and two versions of the title: Love leapt out at me from this record with its infectious tempo-changes and Latinesque groove; and “Distant Days/In The Night” (May 2017) is the debut EP for her brand new MIOHMI label, which also released her debut album of eight new and three previous releases, including Look at the Night, and Callum/Long Before.
But “Some Days” is why we’re here today, and with the introduction thus far to Ruby’s music, we braced for the impact of more grooves and beats. No More opens with some great 70s-era keyboard effects, paying homage to Kraftwerk and Wakeman as just some of the labels I’d be brave enough to throw around! The More I Hear is 80s-era Cure with Lenore Betteridge styled vocals; while Just One Thing strips it back with the reverb set high, even as much as pay tribute the doo-wop style with the Eastern European eeriness.
It was over too soon- had I written this labelling the right songs in the right order? Replay, enjoy again! No- my phone stopped playing it because the screen locked! I Will Never Know revisits the 80s Cure vs Lenore’s of The More I Hear with a catchy bass groove and a barely-there but still-rockin’ guitar solo, while What Will Become … rounds things off nicely with a slightly chill track featuring layered vocal tracks and keyboard effects to go with the rest of this pop-fest release!
I am truly thankful to have been introduced to Yumi & the Weather and to have been asked to review this release. It was a fun couple of hours down the rabbit-hole and I look forward to hearing more from Ruby and her bandmates very soon (I am reliably informed that a second album is nearly ready)!