Album Review: Yin Yin – Yatta!

Southeast Asian Disco from the Dutch.

A solid 40 minute-album, Yatta! is highly instrumental and electronic. Each song smoothly transitions to the next, defined while still cohesive. Yin Yin is a Dutch band that proudly creates with a Southeast Asian sound turned disco. The medley of various cultural backgrounds that had to intersect to create this album alone makes it nothing short of sensational.

There’s a soothing sort of energy emerging from the music, harmonious with the bright tones and phrases begging you to move. The contrasting feelings ebb and flow, creating a balance. The first track addresses this enigma with soundbites of the philosopher Alan Watts: “There is no Yang without Yin and no Yin without Yang” (via Bandcamp) Truly, the first track title, “In Search of Yang,” feels incredibly appropriate for a band named after yin.

As the album continues, it mixes electronic beats and warps with more traditional musical motifs of strings and hand drums. Although there are vocals incorporated into several of the songs, they feel more like an additional instrument than an overarching force leading each song’s purpose.

Track six, “Golden Lion,” opens with slow synth notes dancing over each other. The song, longest in the album, picks up pace as drums are added, but it keeps those slow notes in the background. Each song exchanges places with grace, passing from one to another. “Golden Lion” is followed by “Elma,” which immediately breaks off with a nimble patter of drums and chords that open the floor for a variation on the musical phrase echoed throughout the album. This track feels like a flip of the previous one, with the synth notes bringing the most speed where they’d only slowed down in “Golden Lion.”

There’s a sort of celebratory aftertaste that lingers through the music. There are musical motifs found throughout the album, tying it all together. Each song is bright and hopeful, ending satisfyingly.