Yumi Zouma

Yumi Zouma is a band without borders. But if distance makes the heart grow fonder, then consider the transcontinental indie-pop luminaries bonded for life. As Yumi Zouma ready their expansive and endlessly catchy fifth studio album, No Love Lost To Kindness, which follows 2022’s critically beloved Present Tense and 2023’s EP IV, they’re pooling their collective experiences and widening sonic influences into a thrilling new chapter — one that is every bit as limitless. Composed of members Christie Simpson (vocals, keyboards), Josh Burgess (guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards), Charlie Ryder (guitar, bass, keyboards), and Olivia Campion (drums), Yumi Zouma originally joined forces in 2013 out of New Zealand. Since then, each member (Olivia joined in 2017) has ventured separately into different cities, with Christie currently living in Melbourne, Charlie in London, Josh in New York, and Olivia in Wellington, New Zealand. Though they all technically started out in New Zealand, Yumi Zouma belongs to the world. 2010s music blogs closely tracked every release, including 2014’s dream-pop-inspired EP I and its 2015 follow-up short collection. The band recorded their first four albums — 2016’s Yoncalla, 2017’s Willowbank, 2020’s Truth or Consequences, and 2022’s Present Tense – all over the globe, from Paris to London, Florence, Los Angeles, and back home in New Zealand. Yumi Zouma’s No Love Lost To Kindness originates in Mexico City, where the band was assembled in 2023 for writing sessions. “I think that was one of the first times we'd started an album, and we were experimenting. It was more playful,” Christie says. “We didn't necessarily have a vision for what type of album we would write. But this album has a wide variety of sounds on it, and I think it comes from us having room to experiment.” The band’s evolution—as a collective and individual player—shines across the album’s 12 tracks, which Josh Burgess and Charlie Ryder also produced. They dovetail from synth and dream pop on tracks like “Chicago 2AM” and “95” to the angular, rock-inspired “Bashville on the Sugar,” “Blister,” and “Cross My Heart and Hope to Die.” “One thing that we were trying to go for is more extreme everything, more boldness, more pushing the boundaries in terms of how quiet we can go, how loud we can go, how rock we can go, how distorted we go,” Charlie says of Yumi Zouma’s audacious new energy on this album, which was produced by himself and guitarist Josh Burgess. “We've been a band for 10 years, and we've evolved in that time,” Christie adds. “I think we probably just reached that point where we wanted to try something a little crazier. We didn't want to keep making only dream-pop music because that didn't necessarily resonate with us anymore.” The band leans harder into their rock moment on the riffing “Blister,” which layers compressed drum beats over acoustic and electric guitars and Christie’s raw vocals. “When Christie demands, ‘Why you gotta do me like that?!’ there's an undeniable urgency that the song deserves,” the band says. Her playful chant feels like our tribute to rock icons like Iggy Pop, turning the track from infectious indie-pop into a genuine moment of rock star swagger. Mirroring the album’s bigger, bolder compositions, the songs are filled with grand, romantic gestures. The heartfelt “Phoebe’s Song” is a straight-up love song Josh wrote for his partner; arena-rocking “Judgement Day” builds a wall of sound while telling a story about fate, obsession, and a declaration of love that’s become too big to contain. And then there are less conventional love songs, like the urgent and rushing "Bashville on the Sugar,” which the band wrote about the New York City subway. "If you live somewhere long enough that has public transport, you have a love-hate relationship with it," Josh says of “Bashville,” which even weaves in MTA field recordings. "Sometimes it's really annoying and inconvenient, and then sometimes you just marvel at it." Yumi Zouma also considers their relationships with each other in the storytelling “Cowboy Without A Clue,” which Josh partly recorded during his 2024 travels in Chennai, India. Featuring sitar contributions from Tamil artist Kumar Kishor, “Cowboy” grapples with the reality of maintaining a band while living in different cities through the lens of science-fiction. “We imagined the ultimate long-distance relationship: the year 2099 with one person on Earth and the other on Pluto navigating their distance,” the band says. “Being spread across three countries and 20k miles, we might as well be on bloody Pluto.” Meanwhile, the slow-burning “Drag” channels a more grunge/alt-rock tone as Christie, through lush and layered vocals, sheds a layer and moves on to a new life chapter following an ADHD diagnosis two years ago. Since then, she’s been on a zig-zagging journey towards self-acceptance; while grieving the childhood she could have experienced had she known sooner, Christie lets go of her “neurotypical” status with a sense of relief. “I’m saying goodbye to the life I lived for so long ‘inside the drag’ where everything was so much harder,” she says. “I’m working to embrace my true self even when it’s still frustrating, hard, and unfair – because it’s still so much better than life before.” On the introspective, soft-spoken “95,” which Yumi Zouma wrote as the Paris Olympics were broadcasting in the recording studio, the band takes stock of how their idea of success has evolved over the years. “Ultimately, ‘95’ explores the delicate space between ambition and reality,” they add. “It captures the moment when you wonder if the chase is still worth it or if it's time to simply go home.” "Cross My Heart And Hope To Die" is Yumi Zouma at their most seething, with the post-punk anthem laced with political unease and existential dread. Channeling the spirit of Monty Norman, the soundtrack to Cruel Intentions, and the 1985 live concert "Pumped Full Of Drugs," “Cross My Heart” opens with a twangy telecaster echoing the great Italo-Western films before back-and-forth vocals strike, their cynicism taking root in every line. As Yumi Zouma continues to evolve and celebrate over a decade together, their latest songs show what any long-distance band knows is true: time-zone challenges are simply no match for chemistry.