Plastic People's Max Taylor delves into the bizarre and warped world of Yves Tumor with Heaven To A Tortured Mind.
It is hard to describe what genre Yves Tumor falls under, leading most critics and journalists tend to place him under the wide bracket of ‘experimental’ or ‘electronic’ music. While this may have been more appropriate for some of his earlier works, such as the excellent Safe in the Hands of Love in 2018, Heaven To a Tortured Mind is undeniably a rock record coated in Tumor’s signature experimental and genre-blending flair.
The title of the opening track ‘Gospel For a New Century’ describes the album to a tee. Tumor combines a vast range of old school genres and brings them together harmoniously in such an inventive and self-aware way it could only be pulled off in the twenty-first century. Combining the grooves of funk, hip hop and neo-soul with the diverse and harsh sounds of art rock, musique-concrète and free jazz is no easy feat. Yet Tumor appears to do so with ease, pulling off this refined sound with brilliant sampling and cutting, treading a fine line between a live jam and scratched together sound piece in the vein of Madlib or J Dilla.
The album opens strongly with a punchy horn sample and a heavy bass hitting sporadic bursts which Tumor chops and cuts like a gnarly southern hip hop record. The horns rise with a villainous attitude, accented by a brash, dissonant snarl at the end of each phrase. There is then a seamless shift to a brooding indie rock track, with Tumor’s almost britpop-esque vocals chanting over a simple yet driving bass pattern. The track builds up to a heavy chorus of fuzz with the horn sample returning, adding great harmonies underneath the rock instrumentation whilst also providing more unpredictable rhythms, contrasting the verse’s simple nature. This contrast is where Tumor excels on Heaven To a Tortured Mind.
It is truly an album for lovers of music. ‘Medicine Burn’ is a pulsating fusion of shoegaze and funk and ‘Identity Trade’ marries erratic free jazz horn samples with a hypnotic constant drum groove and sudden bounces of soulful guitar. Tumor even assembles a psychedelic freak out of chaotic drum samples, ambience and noise at the start of ‘Dream Palette’ which then sharply, and effectively strips back to a catchy indie cut, with elements of the avant-garde thrown in as the song reaches its climax. What results is an incredibly refreshing take on rock and alternative music, unafraid to break away from the corner that the genre tends to walk itself into.
Heaven To a Tortured Mind also succeeds in embracing familiarity. ‘Kerosene!’, arguably the album’s highest point, employs a variety of common tropes within rock and pop circles to full effect. The well-used ii-V chord progression opening the track can be seen through Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon or Grover Washington’s Mister Magic, while the dramatic bluesy guitar solo which takes centre stage is arguably the most clichéd element of classic rock there is.
Then why does ‘Kerosene!’ work so well? Its excellence relies not only in its catchy vocals or groovy basslines but also on the expert production that changes a common cheesy guitar solo into a wall of soulful noise. Diana Gordon’s vocals overlap excellently with Tumor’s, her rough and breathy melismatic lines contrasting his monotone yelps of with great chemistry. This dual vocal melody adds another layer to get lost in the track’s dense texture when it reaches its peaks and to provide a sense of intimacy and warmth when the track dies down to its quieter moments.
However, this album is not without its weaknesses, falling rather flat towards the album’s closing moments. ‘Strawberry Privilege’ offers a welcome change of tone, with Tumor’s soft falsetto moans replacing his Britpop yelps, yet it fails to truly make a statement or take its memorable refrain anywhere interesting. ‘Asteroid Blues’ is similar, offering an energetic bass and drum groove which sadly just arrives and leaves without much development.
I am in two minds over the album’s finale: ‘A Greater Love’. Whilst I adore its soulful overlapping vocal melodies, modal guitar licks and smooth beat changes, the fade out which closes the track is a little disappointing, lacking the energy of the accented chords the track opens with.
Saying this, there isn’t really a bad song on the record. Whilst I didn’t enjoy the final three tracks as much, they still expertly blended opposing genres and timbres without making each element feel unnatural or forced. Deeper cuts such as the ambient and IDM influenced ‘Folie Imposée’ are also more of a slow burn to appreciate, rewarding listeners who stick by them.
Heaven To a Tortured Mind is no perfect album, but as someone who loves discovering new areas of music, it fulfilled everything it needed to for me. It is hard not to recommend to any audiophile or fan of the avant-garde and its pop sensibilities make it accessible to anyone who usually strays from experimental music.
8/10
Max Taylor
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