PREMIERE | Yoh, 'Leaning'

Yoh presents the anticipated new album Leaning; cover art courtesy of Eternomonge / Youngbloods.

Five years back we were introduced to the artist Yoh with the album Holographic that provided perspectives and portals of thought and poetics as the world was in the grips of a full on pandemic. Fast forward five years later we catch up with the artist after making the jump from Brooklyn to Brazil where the multihyphenate’s previous contributions to Poetic Thrust, Midi Neutron Collective and more enter into new tiers and a new epoch of creativity and consciousnesses.

Presenting the debut of the new album Leaning for Youngbloods, Yoh leans further into themselves. From taking leaps of faith into new environments, discovering a greater love, working in new mediums, and accepting new personal challenges; Leaning showcases the artist moving into higher streams of creative movements and exploring even richer textures and lyrical textiles of sound. Self-produced by Yoh, the album offers a privy adventure into new worlds where the visceral and meditative operate on parallel planes of elaborate expression energized with the percolating heartbeats of life.

Leaning moves into surveys of our planet’s surface on the opener “Craters” that oscillates between the physical and psychological sciences. Employing a sparse mix and a throwback education audio sample on rock formations, Yoh sharpens the zoom lens on the microscope with "Moths" that sound collages the backbeats in trademark atmospheric attention that fuses drum and bass with brass touches, and dreamy innovations that mesmerizes like a jazz band dropout tuned-in to higher frequencies.

Yoh stylistically framed through the doorway; press photo courtesy of the artist.

The prosodic flows that wrestle with personal praxis and fierce volition finds an illuminated nest of respite on "Poor Man's Rose" where vulnerability and needs of the heart and soul finds shelter from the elements of the world. "Sableye" in both bars and percussive arrangement continues the introspective journey, like a sleepy seeker of truths that are personal, universal, self-evident, and even spiritual. Much of Leaning feels like an elaborate and intoxicating vision quest, further witnessed on the psychotropic "Flowers for Zombies". Yoh walks the world from the concrete corridors of NYC to the rainforest passageways of Brazil in the pursuit of a feeling that breaks beyond the life/death continuum in a world caught in cyclical systems of mechanical mundanity.

Perspectives and perceptions by Yoh; press photo courtesy of the artist.

"Nocturnal Politics" brings a spirited consciousness like an overactive mind at midnight seeking a guidance that exists beyond the basic polemics of vacuous debates. Incorporating sounds of nature, baroque inflections, subtle electro touches, field recordings met with captures of conversations; "Zenko" moves like a fox between worlds in meditations on the temporal and how time and place fit into these grand schemes of our shared existences. "Cycles" closes Leaning with Yoh's lifted production and rhymes that blend those found sounds, bars of experience, reflection on feelings and ultimately the cyclical nature of all things.

Sporting sunglasses and deep sentiments with Yoh; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Leaning is a full embrace of the unknown, the roads Yoh has traveled, the sections of the mind, the sentiments of the spirit, all ignited by the risks taken by the artist to further understand themselves, their loved ones, the world, and the unlimited dimensions of their talents. Yoh shares a privy album that lets the audience in on the mindsets and jet setting modes that makes our universes feel closer together and the paths to understanding ourselves and others all the more intriguing and inclusive. Leaning hones in on the realities that ultimately we all are truly neighbors inhabiting a collection of global villages.

Reflecting, reckoning, and relaying perspectives with Yoh; press photo courtesy of RiCHiE.

Yoh, aka Mark Matheson, provided some exclusive meditations on the new album, thoughts on movements, and much more:

Wandering and pondering the infinite wonders of the world with Yoh; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Leaning has several meanings in relation to this project. The act of deviating from a linear position, a strong instinct, preference, or; to lean in, which is to accept the challenge of doing something difficult. There’s been a lot of leaning in my life recently. I found myself taking trips to London and Berlin, allowing me to connect with amazing musicians I otherwise would not have met. I moved to Brazil after meeting my partner, exploring South America and stepping outside of my comfort zone to self-produce every song on this project. I learned to sew and started taking design and fashion more seriously. I began doing more print and commercial work. I learned Portuguese. The merging of all of these mediums showed me that the what ifs of life can turn into unexpected and welcomed adventures, and serve as lore to the world building that I enjoy, also allowing others to lean in based on what they resonate with.

The worlds and words of Yoh; press photo courtesy of RiCHiE.

During this period I was listening to a lot of Archy Marshall/ King Krule — particularly A New Place 2 Drown and The Ooz albums, Space Afrika who was recommended by one of my good friends that played on their album, a lot of Brazilian music with the influence of my partner, and a lot of old piano music as I was taking lessons and practicing with a good friend of mine to improve my theory. I wanted to experiment and be able to articulate ideas in my production better by understanding the choices I made based on feel, and then building upon them.

Yoh’s new album Leaning arrives May 7 via Youngbloods.