Just over eighteen months on from the critically acclaimed Safe in the Hands of Love, Yves Tumor pushes visceral sonic boundaries with his new album Heaven to a Tortured Mind. In a sense, Heaven to a Tortured Mind occupies the anthemic soundworld that was explored in Safe in the Hands of Love.
Co-produced by Justin Raisen (Ariel Pink, Charli XCX, Sky Ferreira) Safe in the Hands of Love comes off as slicker than its predecessor, less prone to rupture and seemingly more comfortable with its poppier impulses. There are even moments here which present as a kind of variation on the neo soul sound that has been turned murky and swampy at Tumor’s Mephistophelian hand.
Heaven to a Tortured Mind finds Yves Tumor growing into his position as an outsider pop star. Offering up a dozen pieces of vivid avant-pop.The result is a beautiful, forthright album from a supremely unique talent.
“The shapeshifter born Sean Bowie turns out a funky, horn-filled J Dilla groove that transforms into a slacker-rock anthem about a rocky relationship” – NPR
“Gospel for a New Century may sound like a straightforward rock anthem, but the enigmatic title and propulsive production herald grander subjects” – Best New Track Pitchfork