For the making of Willowbank, Yumi Zouma's members — Charlie Ryder, Josh Burgess, Christie Simpson and Sam Perry — settled on a plan to reunite for the New Zealand summer. To complete what would become their first significant work written and recorded entirely in their home country, they rented a studio in Christchurch’s semi-demolished CBD, on one of the few remaining blocks that still characterizes the city from before it was destroyed by a series of earthquakes. “It was as though there was a brief pause in all of our lives and we finally felt like a band from New Zealand,” said Burgess. “We were on home turf and creating from a place that felt fundamentally natural.” When you know it’s there, the feeling of rootedness is undeniable on Willowbank. Being connected to their origins on the bottom of the earth allowed the band’s members to craft another essential chapter in the Yumi Zouma storybook.
