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Present Tense

by Yumi Zouma

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Zach Sprowls
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Zach Sprowls Sometimes I picture this band in the studio facing all the millions of little production decisions and picking the right one. Every single time. Exquisite album. 🙌🏻 Favorite track: If I Had The Heart For Chasing.
owme
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owme Thank you for putting this much effort in all your work. All these memories that you transmit are unbelievably valuable. Favorite track: Where The Light Used To Lay.
theUtmost
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theUtmost Can't wait to hear the full album, but I like what I hear so far, love the direction! Christie you should reach out to Brooke from French For Rabbits, I would LOVE a hometown double-headline gig in CHC Town Hall, this would be a match made in heaven. Imagine the jam session!!!! *does excited Minions squeeeeeeeee....*
mountainrangeinlove
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mountainrangeinlove Everything Yumi Zouma does is amazing, but the 80s-adjacent pop in this album is especially fun. Favorite track: Give It Hell.
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1.
Give It Hell 03:24
I'm no wire on a white horse But I'm wondering if I’m good enough Your struggle is a sleek grief sold out front I’m no slugger of the backstreets Tell me why they gotta vouch for me They’re still moving to the backseat, one by one So don’t omit holding on When moving against these years Give it hell, don't just sell on signs you know what rightful is And when you hear hope is gone From those who you keep so dear Don't give out, I would shout all night to fight that fire here When you said you couldn’t stand this So pretentious like I planned it all Your silent preservation overflows There’s an echo in the hallway Shouting louder at an open door Nassau back to Metro, lost your clothes So don’t omit holding on When moving against these years Give it hell, don't just sell on signs you know what rightful is And when you hear hope is gone From those who you keep so dear Don't give out, I would shout all night to fight that fire here Thought I missed your call But I was only dreaming Selfish, cruel, and cold For making other plans Could only ask for help In ways that were revealing Couldn’t thank myself If I fail to react So don’t omit holding on When moving against these years Give it hell, don't just sell on signs you know what rightful is And when you hear hope is gone From those who you keep so dear Don't give out, I would shout all night to fight that fire here
2.
Wind blows through the alley here On the darkest nights of June I thought I saw a glimpse of your reflection But that vision wasn’t you I give a little, to take a minute And I’m trying to catch your name Not leaving it out, not giving it up As you try to forget my face Tell me what you want to believe Cause I couldn’t see That what I was keeping was only a game So why’d you want to be free ‘Cause I can’t conceive That darling you don’t ever mean what you say You took me out to nightclubs And I wore your weight on my back “Why do you want me? I just look like nothing, And I only dress in black...” To make things better, to have a second Of your precious time to spare Arranging your life, not all out of spite As you throw away my tears Tell me what you want to believe Cause I couldn’t see That what I was keeping was only a game So why’d you want to be free ‘Cause I can’t conceive That darling you don’t ever mean what you say Baby looks like Mona Lisa I'd be lying if I don't wanna try When emotion is reasoned Sparks a renaissance of being alive For you I feel exposed I don’t have time to cope What a weekend of fool’s gold I know you’re alone Tell me what you want to believe Cause I couldn’t see That what I was keeping was only a game So why’d you want to be free ‘Cause I can’t conceive That darling you don’t ever mean what you say Baby looks like Mona Lisa I'd be lying if I don't wanna try When emotion is reasoned Sparks a renaissance of being alive
3.
Take… The bad advice Remove all of the things we wanted So you don’t even have the context And No… Not gonna lie But you paid us off to feel more blindly Now it’s easier to take it lightly I didn’t have time to shake it The thought in my head I wasn’t of mind to wait here So I never have And if I had the heart for chasing My roads to the end I’d maybe find I’m mistaken And run them again Not gonna last You say it’s not a case of truth Every minute more confused Go… I’m turning off Configuring a book of lies Change your mind, it’s no surprise I didn’t have time to shake it The thought in my head I wasn’t of mind to wait here So I never have And if I had the heart for chasing My roads to the end I’d maybe find I’m mistaken And run them again Not just another face Want you to say my name, babe Don’t want to take the bait Now it’s just another game Where you don’t feel the same way In just another phase I didn’t have time to shake it The thought in my head I wasn’t of mind to wait here So I never have And if I had the heart for chasing My roads to the end I’d maybe find I’m mistaken And run them again
4.
I’m getting stuck, and taking a break Yeah, I’m leaving, baby, I can’t take it I’ve had enough of more of the same Maybe you should change the way you’re thinking… It takes consistency (Oh, to have you stay with me) But now you’re falling flat, I know I’m better than that Don’t know what I could do (Oh, to catch another view) Nobody’s gonna say that this is worth all the pain So won’t you give it up I’m not gonna wait Start to remember all the stupid beds that you ever made Dreaming forever of Where the light used to lay And baby, won’t you try to forget the things you said when you went away I’m on the up, and back in perfume Am I too much crazy..? Think I could be… I’ve seen enough, don’t you feel consumed? Cause the way you hate is still perplexing I’m not an animal (I’m not your wrecking ball) It’s not a metaphor, want you to see how I bleed So drop your camouflage (Oh, it’s just a dumb facade) That you keep putting on… I’ve got you down on your knees So won’t you give it up I’m not gonna wait Start to remember all the stupid beds that you ever made Dreaming forever of Where the light used to lay And baby, won’t you try to forget the things you said when you went away It’s hard to remember harder to forget I put a picture of you on the internet Somewhere in the drama we got left behind It’s just another bad end to the storyline Tell me the truth are you coming home You’re just an underpaid extra that never shows Just a figment of the plans that I never had And I hope that the next one won’t be so bad So won’t you give it up I’m not gonna wait Start to remember all the stupid beds that you ever made Dreaming forever of Where the light used to lay And baby, won’t you try to forget the things you said when you went away
5.
Razorblade 02:54
It took a minute to regret my attention A sudden glance before I turn into stone It's fine to forge ahead while wheels are turning You should shine, I know you wanted to go But I don't feel it's so unrealistic to remain in your life We could change You should stay ‘Cause my love's still aligned to a Razorblade We can move time to time Now my heart is on fire And you've cut your ties Oh, was a single time the bed for your reasons? I'll steal some strength to keep my silence intact These bold decisions can be wrong when you're reeling But I know you won't be turning back But I don't feel it's so unrealistic to devote yourself twice We could change You should stay ‘Cause my love's still aligned to a Razorblade We can move time to time Now my heart is on fire And you've cut your ties
6.
They hit around midnight Like hunting some prey Consigning an evening to our darkest days The crash of walls crumbling It felt like a storm Reviving the lives we had before we were born I went sideways I went back And I looked for clues in every single moment of the past I'm not trying To get you off track I'm not silently declining into black So don't give me fate It’s said and done I'm not feeling brave here When they're tying our tongues I won't ever change While blue in blood Don't stop when the flames fall In the eyes of our love They turn on the floodlights To stamp on our wrists I'm mouthing Venceremos through splitting lips Hit forty times over And dumped in the street Displayed at the gates to warn off other deceit I went sideways I went back But I fought for truth through every single broken artifact I'm not trying To get you off track But I'm lying if there's nothing I could do about that And with a heartbeat in my chest They took all the notes from my hands But we won’t lose sight of what we said I'll sing from the dirt instead So don't give me fate It’s said and done I'm not feeling brave here When they're tying our tongues I won't ever change (Sitting in their sights) While blue in blood (Keep us on your mind) Don't stop when the flames fall In the eyes of our love A picture for now That’s cut into three A terror to drown Where nobody sees So don't give me fate (Sitting in their sights) It’s said and done (Keep us on your mind) I'm not feeling brave here When they're tying our tongues I won't ever change (Wouldn't let it show) While blue in blood (From another's blow) Don't stop when the flames fall in the eyes of our love Won't ever change While blue in blood Won’t stop when the flames fall In the eyes of our love
7.
Talking to the footpath Concrete cold Dialogue that don’t last Repeating nothing at all I’m all out of updates When I’m tired and mad You’re just out of touch babe So won’t you give me a chance? Don’t call up I know we said too much The combination of me and you Waiting to separate in two And if you lose your poise Yelling into the void I’ll have to leave you there on the floor Trying to rearrange it all Floating out of elsewhere Eyes on you I believe in suffering You could believe in it too Killer conversations Where you leave me out back Hanging off the railing Because I’m ready to crash Don’t call up I know we said too much The combination of me and you Waiting to separate in two And if you lose your poise Yelling into the void I’ll have to leave you there on the floor Trying to rearrange it all You’re not the person I took for granted I feel remorseful, when I see you And even caution can feel obnoxious If you don’t give a damn Don’t call up I know we said too much The combination of me and you Waiting to separate in two And if you lose your poise Yelling into the void I’ll have to leave you there on the floor Trying to rearrange it all
8.
Honestly, It’s fine, the way that you left it And at first it was hard, with all we’d connected Hate to say it but I need the brakes on Waste another weekend making tough boys owe me Peeling off my numbers from the asphalt These faults could resolve in seeing… Some temporary time spent Counting the hours Waiting to see me through No batting of an eyelid Where does the time live? I can’t seem to shake it loose Honestly, it’s cool, but I need an answer Was it just me and you, or was there another? Hate to say it, but you need to stay back Steal another scheme, you made my old one muddy Looking like the devil with a fake tan I’m here with my friends inviting… Some temporary time spent Counting the hours Waiting to see me through No batting of an eyelid Where does the time live? I can’t seem to shake it loose And seasons don’t change, if you’re in outer space (I’ll leave it all to fate) Reminds me of us, in a self-serving way (The feelings start to fade) My dealings won’t change, when you’re not here to stay (I’ll love you all the same) It reminds me of home, but on a different day (You’re only...) Some temporary time spent Counting the hours Waiting to see me through No batting of an eyelid Where does the time live? I can’t seem to shake it loose
9.
Haunt 03:48
You take another’s voice and walk it round the block You say you loved me once, you don’t wanna talk It’s not unreasonable, the question that I asked This is it right now and you don’t have the heart And I meant what I said when I said you were hard to forgive And hard to forget ‘Cause despite what I do, I’m still haunted by you in the end You never said you’re sorry Your father was a lawyer, you should’ve known what’s right Your mother worked at the library but not a book in sight I never truly knew her, but your sister was a friend And still I was alone with no defense You said you’ve seen his face in posters on the street I’m sure remembering’s much harder than it seems Must follow you around, a hometown memory And you were only kids, but still it haunts your dreams And I meant what I said when I said you were hard to forgive And hard to forget ‘Cause despite what I do, I’m still haunted by you in the end You never said you’re sorry I still see your face in posters on the street Still so threatening, I find it hard to breathe Follows me around, a ghost I never see Until I’m fast asleep, and then you haunt my dreams You never said you’re sorry And I meant what I said when I said you were hard to forgive And hard to forget ‘Cause despite what I do, I’m still haunted by you in the end You never said you’re sorry
10.
Let them cut the ties that swept in defeat One day I’ll be calm and I’ll learn to concede Catching my horizons A ringing bell to mark my repeating visions You were none the wiser A hint of panic can do wonders for distance Planted seven seeds that I kept in my hands Dandelions bloomed but you were not a fan Look towards my future I’ll weave a thousand threads of deeper connection No qualms if you choose her To spend the day outside your astral projection Hold me in your arms, I know this wouldn’t last I know I shouldn’t feel safe, but I do Hearing you don’t care, I’m out of view What would you choose if there wasn’t a plan? What would you do if I spun round and ran? You would never tell me what you knew Hold me in your arms, I know this wouldn’t last I know I shouldn’t feel safe, but I do Hearing you don’t care, I’m out of view Hold me in your arms, I know this wouldn’t last I know I shouldn’t feel safe, but I do Hearing you don’t care, I’m out of view

about

Yumi Zouma’s Josh Burgess likens the band’s songwriting process to gardening, “Someone brings in a seed and through collaboration, it grows into a song that is vastly different from its original form.” Like any garden, this one requires dedicated tending, a practice that seems rather inconvenient if not straight-up difficult, considering the fact that the four members live in disparate parts of the world – calling New York, London, and New Zealand home – but long-distance has always been a feature of their songwriting process, not a bug. Their new album, Present Tense, is the product of those efforts, a work Christie Simpson describes as “a gallery wall displaying these different moments in each of our lives. A process of curation, revisiting the past and making it relevant to the present.”

You might assume that while some artists have struggled to rethink their processes during a pandemic, Yumi Zouma would be perfectly suited to lockdown, but the opposite proved to be true. Without looming tour dates driving them to release new music, the prolific band found themselves at a standstill. On the day that the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic, the band released their third LP, Truth or Consequences, via Polyvinyl, and had sold out their first American tour. After Yumi Zouma’s first show in Washington DC, the tour was canceled and the four members went their separate ways, an experience memorialized on Present Tense opener “Give It Hell.” “It was disorientating,” Charlie Ryder admits. “We generally work at a quick clip and average about a record a year, but with no foreseeable plans, we lost our momentum.”

So they set a date. By September 1st, 2021, the album needed to be finished, regardless of whether they’d be able to tour it or even meet to record together. Before the September deadline goaded the band into action, they had what felt like endless amounts of time to record the album. What began in fits and starts became a committed practice again as Yumi Zouma dug through demos from as early as 2018 to collaborate on and make relevant to the peculiar moment in time the band, and world, was experiencing. “The lyrics on these songs feel like premonitions, in some regards,” Simpson reflects. “So much has changed for us, both personally and as a band, that things I wrote because the words sounded good together now speak to me in ways I didn’t anticipate.”

Remote and in-person sessions in studios in Wellington, Florence, New York, Los Angeles, and London all played a role, and Yumi Zouma brought in new collaborators from different disciplines to broaden their sound. Studio recordings of drummer Olivia Campion were incorporated into every song, while pedal steel, pianos, saxophones, woodwinds, and strings were played by friends around the globe who were able to lend their talents and support. The band enlisted multiple mixers in Ash Workman (Christine & The Queens, Metronomy), Kenny Gilmore (Weyes Blood, Julia Holter), and Jake Aron (Grizzly Bear, Chairlift), and recruited the mastering expertise of Antoine Chabert (Daft Punk, Charlotte Gainsbourg) for the first time. “This is our fourth album, so we wanted to pivot slightly, create more extreme versions of songs,” Ryder says. “Working with other artists helped with that, and took us far outside of our normal comfort zone.”

You can hear the impulse on “In The Eyes Of Our Love,” a song that’s seemingly twice as fast as any prior release, and closer to the classic rock of Dire Straits than the dream pop aesthetics that the band has built their career on so far. Campion’s drums crash in hard from the outset, sending the accompanying band into a revelry that only breaks upon arriving at the first bridge, when Simpson sings: “But we won’t lose sight of what we said/ I'll sing from the dirt instead.”

There’s a defiance heard throughout Present Tense, a refusal to bend to what might seem fated, communicated not only through lyrics but in the boldness of these arrangements, metamorphosing between tracks without ever losing momentum. The triumphant chorus of “Where The Light Used To Lay” belies any of the pain beneath its surface, a technique Simpson likens to the work of folk-adjacent rock acts like Bruce Springsteen and Phoebe Bridgers. “We wanted quiet moments to give into a big, brash chorus, something that approaches cliché,” Simpson says. “The chorus feels like a dramatic encapsulation of who we want to be as a band,” Ryder adds.

Two years away from the road gave Yumi Zouma a new appreciation for the friendship they’ve sustained and the opportunity an abundance of time off-cycle offered. “We used to run on adrenaline, and if a song wasn’t working we’d just nip it in the bud and move on. This process gave us the opportunity to really sit with songs and rethink them until they felt like they belonged in the collection,” Burgess says. Album closer “Astral Projection” is one such song, originally conceived by Burgess, who felt as if he’d been handed a sliver of brilliance after the song had been rewritten and abandoned by Ryder and Simpson. “It was as if I’d been given this rescue cat who had the potential to be great,” he says, laughing.

Between them, the song developed into a bass-driven slowburner, moody and oddly prescient,“A hint of panic can do wonders for distance,” Simpson sings, her voice mirrored by Burgess’s. The outro twinkles like a summer skyline at dusk, violets and grays intermingling with the bright glow of a thousand open windows. “I daydream about playing that one live,” Burgess says. “In bed, I’ll close my eyes before sleep and imagine the drumbeat kicking in.” It’s a craving the members of Yumi Zouma all share, one they hope will be satiated someday soon. Dedicated to an embattled past, Present Tense is the band’s offering to a tenuous future.“To 2020, and the memory of all that was lost,” they write in the album’s liner notes. “Kia Kaha.”

credits

released March 18, 2022

All songs written, recorded, and produced by Yumi Zouma

Yumi Zouma are:
Christie Simpson
Josh Burgess
Olivia Campion
Charlie Ryder

Additional Instrumentation:
Emily Elkin - Cello
Andrew Keoghan - Piano, Saxophone, Ukulele, Violin, String Arrangement
Bryan Daste - Pedal Steel, Guitar
Hamilton McKay Belk - Pedal Steel
Bruno Elisabetsky, Mike Noble - Guitar
Jake Piños - Synthesizer
Ian East, Patricio Böttcher, Sophie Creaner, Nick Bisesi - Woodwind
Zakhar Valaha, Felix Herbst, Filip Magnusson - Strings

Mixing:
Ash Workman - Give It Hell, If I Had The Heart For Chasing, Haunt, Honestly, It’s Fine
Kenny Gilmore - Where The Light Used To Lay, Mona Lisa, In The Eyes Of Our Love
Jake Aron - Of Me and You, Astral Projection, Razorblade

Mastering:
Antoine 'Chab' Chabert

Additional Engineering:
Troy Kelly - Drums
Nathan Kane, Brian Chew, Emma Denney, Ross Fortune, Paul Kaleka, Rachael Findlen - Vocals

Recorded at:
The Armoury, Wellington
Officina Sonora Bigallo, Florence
Soho Sonic Studios Camden, London
Uneti Studios, London
Neon Sound, Los Angeles
Stanhope Cellar Studios, New York
Mosfet-Melrose, New York

Photography:
Christie Simpson
Nick Grennon

Artwork:
Ishaq Fahim - Design
Janelle Abad - Coordinator

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Yumi Zouma Christchurch, New Zealand

Yumi Zouma is Christie Simpson, Josh Burgess, Charlie Ryder, and Olivia Campion.

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