El Michels Affair
Yeti Season

Limited Deluxe Edition
Pre Order // Buy now

The Deluxe Edition comes with 50 page children’s book inspired by the album. Written by Francine Prose and illustrated by Omar „El Oms“ Juarez. The colored vinyl is red.Limited Edition LP Deluxe Version kommt mit 50-seitigem Kinderbuch, inspiriert durch das Album, geschrieben von Francine Prose und illustriert von Omar „El Oms“ Juarez. Das farbige Vinyl ist rot. Das neue Album bietet alles auf, was wir von EMAs cineastischem Stil instrumentaler Soulmusik erwarten. Während Adult Themes einen Soundtrack zu einem imaginären Film lieferte, bringt uns Yeti Season an einen anderen Ort – mit ganz neuen Inspirationen. Mit türkisch angehauchtem Funk und einer fast schon Mumbai-esken Interpretation von Soul offeriert uns El Michels Affair mit Yeti Season eine andere Art von Drama und Fantasie. Was also ist Yeti Season? Es könnte eher ein Gefühl sein als ein tatsächlicher Ort oder eine Jahreszeit. Es ist ein heavy Album – das beweisen die charakteristische Musikalität und bei einigen Songs der dramatische Gesang von Piya Malik, ehemals 79.5, und Shannon Wise von The Shacks. Aber es ist auch ein gleichermaßen hoffnungsvolles Album, mit Phrasierungen, Texturen und Akkordwechseln, die auf etwas Besseres – oder Volleres – hinweisen, das da kommen mag. Das hört man in Songs wie Ala Vida, mit seinen schneidenden, pulsierenden Akkorden, die das Fundament für die hellen, atmosphärischen Bläserlinien von EMA bilden. Oder auch in Fazed Out, das einen mit einem Gefühl der Entschlossenheit zurücklässt, einem Streben nach einer Lösung, obwohl die treibende, marschartige Songstruktur auch der Soundtrack einer siegreichen Armee sein könnte. Diese Hartnäckigkeit rührt wohl von der Tatsache her, dass Leon Michels und Co. diese Platte während des Lockdowns fertiggestellt haben. Es war eine schwierige und mühsame Zeit. Aber schauen Sie sich an, was daraus geworden ist: Yeti Season – eine Platte voller Dramatik, aber auch eine voller Hoffnung und Verheißung. Es bedarf wohl eines Jahres wie 2020, um Hoffnung in eine winterliche und großfüßige Kreatur wie einen Yeti zu setzen, aber so scheint es zu sein.

Fresh off of their 2020 offering Adult Themes, El Michels Affair is back with a new full-length release. Titled Yeti Season, this newest album has everything we’ve come to expect from EMA’s patented cinematic style of instrumental soul music. Where Adult Themes inspired a soundtrack to an imaginary film, Yeti Season brings us to a different place in time_with new inspirations. Taken with Turkish-styled funk and an almost Mumbai-esque take on soul, El Michels Affair offers us a different kind of drama and imagination with Yeti Season. If you’ve been following along, this shouldn’t be viewed as too far a departure for El Michels Affair. The first single off of Yeti Season showed their hand back in 2018. A double-sided banger, that release brought the musical textures to the fore that dominate this record. The first song, titled „Unathi,“ is fully realized with the beautifully haunting-yet-hopeful vocals of Piya Malik, formally of 79.5_another Big Crown artist. Singing in Hindi, Piya’s ethereal voice is telling us to work and strive together toward progress. Even if you don’t understand her language, you can still hear the urgency of purpose, creating a lasting vibe that sits on top of it all. Leon Michels explains that Piya had a vital influence on this record: „When Piya started singing in Hindi, she had a different voice, a different tone. I knew we had to do something together.“ And so Piya appears on three other songs on Yeti Season: „Zaharila,“ „Murkit Gem,“ and „Dhuaan.“ Each providing particular signatures to the album. „Zaharila“ is a building and changing love song punctuated by blaring trumpets, driving drums, and Piya’s pleading lyrics. While the more upbeat „Murkit Gem“ opens with a fuzzed out, Wu-Tang-esque baseline that buoys Piya’s stylings. The psychedelic guitar and Piya’s changing tones and textures singing about an all-consuming love are what pushed „Dhuaan“ on to the second single from Yeti Season. There is also a vocal appearance from Shannon Wise of The Shacks, yet another Big Crown artist. Her song called „Sha Na Na,“ lies more in the familiar EMA vein: melodic, hypnotic, soulfully visual. But between Shannon’s airy singing, the jumpy baseline, moody vibes, the active drum lines, it sounds like a pensive walk home after a strangely dramatic night. So what is Yeti Season? It could be more of a feeling than an actual place or time of year. It’s a heavy album_as evidenced by the signature musicianship and dramatic vocal expressions. But it’s also a hopeful record, with phrasings, textures, and chord changes that hint at something better_or fuller_coming our way. You hear it in songs like „Ala Vida,“ with its stabby, pulsing chords laying a bedrock for EMA’s bright, atmospheric horn lines. Or even in „Fazed Out,“ which leaves you with a feeling of determination, a striving for resolution even though the driving, march-like song structure should accompany some conquering army. This persistence has to come from the fact that Leon Michels and company finished this record during the lockdown. It was a tough and troublesome time. But look at what has come of it: Yeti Season_a record of high and heavy drama, but also one of hope and promise. It may take a year like 2020 behind us to find hope in a winter big footed creature like a Yeti, but that’s where we are.

 


Shop-Link(s):


Verfügbare Formate:

LP blue

LP

Deluxe Edition red

 


Tracklist:

  1. 1 Unathi
  2. 2 Sha Na Na
  3. 3 Ala Vida
  4. 4 Fazed Out
  5. 5 Murkit Gem
  6. 6 Lesson Learned
  7. 7 Dhuaan
  8. 8 Perfect Harmony
  9. 9 Silver Lining
  10. 10 Zaharila
  11. 11 Last Blast
Misc, Organic Grooves // Big Crown Records // 26. März 3032