New Zealand pop merchants extraordinaire Yumi Zouma have today announced the release of their fourth album ‘Present Tense’ via Polyvinyl Records and PIAS Australia on 18 March 2022. To whet our appetites, the band has unveiled a video for the track ‘In The Eyes Of Our Love’: a hyperkinetic piece of effervescent pop that high steps along with a zippy vibe. The video, directed by filmmaker Alex Ross Perry (Soccer Mommy, Vivian Girls, Sleigh Bells), is part of a trilogy of music videos.
Charlie Ryder from the band says of the track:
Recorded at 204bpm, ‘In The Eyes Of Our Love’ is a rip-roaring belter of a track and the fastest song we’ve ever written. What started out as an homage to Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift ended up as a love song set against a backdrop of torture and insurrection stoked by the Nixon administration, so if you like songs with two bridges and strong socialist leanings, then ‘In The Eyes Of Our Love’ could be the track for you!
Perry says of the video:
Agreeing to make three interconnected videos was something I should have thought about for longer than 15 seconds before agreeing to it. The anxiety of conceptualizing a small story, that can be told without dialogue, and set to music, gripped me from the moment my video call with the band ended. Their thoughts were excellent, specific, and unachievable with the time and resources I would be able to pull together. But I began to feel inspired by the concept of taking these vast ideas and situating them within a single location, transforming the aesthetic, visuals, and mood to match the three different songs. My only chance for success was to rely heavily on a great cast and crew to create these spaces and film them in a way that felt consistently alive and unique. Fortunately for me, they all over-delivered.
The lyrics tell a fascinating tale of resistance and resiliance:
I went sideways
I went back
But I fought for truth through every single broken artefact
I’m not trying
To get you off track
But I’m lying if there’s nothing I could do about that
This is an intriguing mélange of dance pop and intelligent messaging touched with a hint of bittersweet melancholy.
‘Present Tense’ is available to pre-order via streaming and download sites here or through the link below.
Details of the North American tour are as follows:
APRIL
7 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West #
8 – Durham, NC – Motorco Music Hall #
9 – Washington, DC – Black Cat #
12 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer #
13 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg #
14 – Boston, MA – The Sinclair #
15 – Portsmouth, NH – The Press Room #
16 – Montréal, QC – Petit Campus $
17 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
18 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop %
20 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall %
21 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon %
22 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club %
23 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck %
25 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater %
28 – Vancouver, BC – The Fox Cabaret $
29 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile $
30 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios &
MAY
3 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent &
5 – Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy &
6 – San Diego, CA – The Casbah &
$ w/Special Guest JORDANN
% w/Special Guest Mini Trees
& w/Special Guest Beauty Queen
Feature Photograph: Aaron Lee + Alex Evans
