Ito Yumi

Ysla Ito Yumi

A journey through the endless width of the sea to a magnificent island: this is the image that comes to mind when «Ysla» rotates on the record player. Yumi Ito's new album has become a veritable tide of personal stories, impressive improvisations and the original voice of the Polish-Japanese-Swiss singer, composer, improviser. 'Ysla', from the old Portuguese for 'island', deals with topics such as loneliness and separation, end of the world and rebirth, combined with metaphors from nature, psychology and sociology as well as current history. The seven original compositions are closely linked to Yumi Ito's person and tell of her path of reflection and self-discovery. In this process, Ito has also developed her vocal improvisation into a 'universal' language that can be understood everywhere: highly conscious, virtuosic and incredibly powerful, she implements this, improvising seemingly effortlessly across genres, keys and rhythms of all kinds - like a Zen master in harmonie with the environment. The times on the islands and during the pandemic made me reflect intensively. One realization is that similarly, when I improvise and sing scat, I can connect with people across nationalities and borders in my own wordless language - and so feel at home everywhere. Yumi ItoHer trio maneuvers effortlessly through a veritable genre ocean of ambient sounds, mystical grooves and soulful parts between art pop, jazz and neoclassic. Also on board: illustrious guests like Chris Hyson (synths; Jordan Rakei, The Magic Lantern, Snowpoet) or Szymon Mika (g), who also plays in a duo with Yumi Ito. Profound and immensely fresh - like an island, proud, stoic and strong in the midst of the raging waves of the ocean.