Cool for a Second—Yumi Zouma
#365Songs: March 2
To refrence the unassailably great film Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996) — listening to Yumi Zouma is “like it’s 72 degrees inside your head, all the time.” Like the aforementioned pharmacological narrative catalyst in Brain Candy, Yumi Zouma is a drug. Although more like coffee, because it’s always there and why yes I could use some more legally addictive stimulant.
When you go without New Zealand’s Yumi Zouma for a few days, you start to get the headache and the shakes. You know how it goes.
More than any other contemporary indie-pop artist, Yumi Zouma understands how to craft and bait a hook. A Yumi Zouma chorus doesn’t settle for catchy; the band takes a good-enough chorus and adds a feather boa, a beret, a tie clip, some extra zhuzzhhh to make it truly sing.
The pop music machine has always revolved around the hit single. This single-first mentality began long before Spotify, long before purchasing and downloading one song for an infinite playlist became the a la carte order of the day. I bought the cassette single for Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” because yeah I did. But if Right Said Fred’s not our bag, go back to Elvis, go back to the Beatles. The 45rpm vinyl single with an A-side and a B-side reigned supreme — so much so in fact that it remains common knowledge which B-side matched which A-side. These are important facts for music aficionados.
Yumi Zouma does themselves a disservice by putting out entire records of potentially perfect hit singles. Because my god which one is the best one? All of them. They’re all solid, chart toppers that never so much as sniff a pie-chart powerpoint presentation.
The band cites New Zealand acts The Mint Chicks, So So Modern, Cut Off Your Hands, and The Ruby Suns as direct inspiration for their whimsical, idiosyncratic brand of melancholy-laced melatonin. And yet none of those bands sound remotely like Yumi Zouma (yeah — I went back and listened to all of them… and really kinda dug Cut Off Your Hands… so give them a listen).
Some felt shoegazy or art-poppy or garage jangly. It wasn’t a clear lineage of sonic progression, but these acts knew a good hook when they stumbled into one. They had energy and vigor. When I read elsewhere that vocalist Christie Simpson worships Fleetwood Mac, you know immediately — that’s the flywheel that makes Yumi Zouma tick.
The pop vocals with layers of carefully tuned instrumentals and electronic flourishes. Even when the songs skew down-tempo or embrace some darkness Christie’s (and Stevie’s, of course) adds depth. The band’s lyrics are never all sadness or all rah-rah. There’s a natural sonic balance. It’s like she can’t help but provide a ballast. Pull cord in case of emergency.
A life-raft through turbulent times for those of us who have come to adore Yumi Zouma’s music over the last ten years. Go back to that very first 2014 release, called simply EP. You’ll hear the trademark elements already coming into play, but they hadn’t quite realized their ultimate powers. Here’s “The Brae” from that first release.
Note the gradual rise, the introductory strings and synth that recede behind the bass guitar and Christie’s layered vocals. “The Brae” rises to its first crescendo around the 1:30 mark, teasing a revelation that doesn’t quite emerge.
And now let’s look at the track that first put them on my radar, “Catastrophe,” from EP II. One year later.
We talk about music “depth” — but how do you put that into more specific words on the page? The harmony between the highs and low frequencies? The low bass playing ever-so-nicely with the jangly, crystalline guitars? Christie’s voice has a different timbre here, too. There’s a confidence within a broader range. And now, gather round your monitor and lets look at how they bait you. At 3:22, the drums bail, Josh Burgess’ rhythm guitar fades out. You lean in. Hushed keyboards and bass guitar. Christie returns.
Love me like you should, you know I never could
I’m better now it’s minimal
Whenever I’m awake I can feel it’s not the same
At 3:51 the band returns (a full thirty seconds of downtime in a pop song) and I’m doing my best air drum transition over here as Yumi brings “Catastrophe” back, bigger and bolder than any other point in the song. Christie belts the chorus, with a slight variance, higher highs to match Burgess’ energy. The guitars and synth carry us home from there.
The best moments in the kind of all-palatable pleasantries we call “pop music” happen amidst the drama within an individual song. The banalities we associate, however, with Top 40 popular music want to please, please, please, a sonic lap doodle without a sense of personal space. They’re suffocating and relentlessly clamoring for your attention because they have three minutes to sell you a record, an image.
But we’re not here to talk about “Catastrophe.”
Sometime last year, I sprung a pop quiz on Smitty. I texted him: “What’s the best Yumi Zouma hook?” First he flung an expletive at me. He knew that I knew that wasn’t a fair question.
He came up with “In Camera,” “Give It Hell” and “Cool for a Second.”
I fired back “Yesterday. That’s the answer.”
Okay, so let’s write about “Yesterday.” Not so fast.
But what I didn’t say was that “Yesterday” might have the best hook — “Cool for a Second” might be my favorite Yumi Zouma track.
It follows the same blueprint as “Castastophe” but channels catchiness and from another dimension. After “Cool for a Second’ drops out and Christie goes wispy and fragile, the average human brain just can’t handle the rigorous pleasure of that chorus as it crests, buoyed by the drums and a gentle “la la la” textured in the background.
This is how the Japanese get those big black happy anime eyes, they throw on New Zealand’s finest indie-pop band. Did I mention there’s a “Japanese Wallpaper Remix” for “Cool for a Second”?
But but but but is “Cool for a Second” actually my favorite Yumi Zouma song? Maybe it was when I started, but damn I’ll never change “KPR” if it pops on. Right then, so let’s talk about “KPR.” And I haven’t even mentioned the underappreciated “Mona Lisa” or “In The Eyes of Our Love” — forget it. The whole damn Present Tense record while we’re at it. How am I supposed to pick one song when whatever Yumi Zouma song is currently playing is actually my favorite Yumi Zouma song?
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