yMusic Releases Hopeful and Meditative New Single “Cloud”

Listen to “Cloud” here

Events in LA and NYC Announced for Next Month

Today, yMusic shares “Cloud,” the third preview track from their new album YMUSIC, which will be released via StorySound Records on May 5th. 

“Cloud” is built on an infectious cello riff, interlocking plucked strings with percussion played on the body of the instrument. The wordless refrain is almost a mantra, summoning hope from thin air. “We wrote this on the last day before lockdown 2020,” the group writes, “with the idea of putting something positive and healing into the world in the midst of widespread anxiety and uncertainty. The result is a meditation, an entreaty, a prayer.”

Watch the song come to life in the video for “Cloud”, directed by Steven Mertens here. 

Over nine pieces, YMUSIC delivers moments of sublime mystery and complicated resolution. All of the album’s songs were created together, sometimes at in-person jam sessions, but more often virtually over the course of the pandemic. Each song is a relatively concise statement that explores disparate compositional territory, like a collection of short stories linked more by theme than by setting. Traces of the DNA of past collaborators are evident, but the album’s gracefully unfolding melodies and obtuse rhythmic propulsion is all yMusic’s own.

YMUSIC’s lead single “Zebras” has already attracted praise from The New York Times, who call it “a minimalistic but eventful romp” that “makes the most of its three-and-a-half minutes." The second single, “The Wolf”, revels in gesture and texture, as uncanny timbres build the ominous tension, ever ascending. Listen here. 

Next month, yMusic will bring its music on the road to two album release shows. On May 9th in Los Angeles at 2220 Arts + Archives and on May 12th in New York at Public Records Sound Room.

Keep an eye out for yMusic tour dates to be announced soon. 

yMusic are:

—Alex Sopp (flutes / voice) is an “exquisite” (NY Times) musician who has appeared as a multi-disciplinary performer and singer in Tony-winning theater director John Tiffany’s production of “The Ambassador,” a staged song cycle written by Gabriel Kahane 

—Hideaki Aomori (clarinets) is an exceptional woodwind musician who has collaborated with everyone from jazz star Ambrose Akinmusire to the Philip Glass Ensemble, and even ripped a tenor sax for the Oscar-nominated film If Beale Street Could Talk. 

—CJ Camerieri (trumpet / French horn) won two GRAMMYs as a member of Bon Iver’s band and has collaborated with indie stars like The National, Sufjan Stevens, Yo La Tengo, and Belle & Sebastian.

—Rob Moose (violin) is a GRAMMY-winning conductor and arranger for the likes of Taylor Swift, Bon Iver, and Phoebe Bridgers. He’s conducted orchestras in performance for Anohni and Sufjan Stevens, and has performed with Jay-Z, Savion Glover, Gwen Stefani, Josh Groban, Sara Bareilles, and Vampire Weekend. 

—Nadia Sirota (viola) won a 2015 Peabody Award for her podcast Meet The Composer and is known for bringing her “tenaciously good ear and her ability to throw herself bodily into the landscapes that composers bring to her” (Pitchfork) to her performances alongside the likes of Nico Muhly, Daniel Bjarnason, Grizzly Bear, and Joanna Newsom. From 2018-2022 she served as the New York Philharmonic’s Creative Partner. 

—Gabriel Cabezas (cello) was the 2016 recipient of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, a career grant awarded to extraordinary classical Black and Latinx musicians. His 2021 album Lost Coast — a performance of climate change-inspired music composed by Gabriella Smith — was named one of NPR Music’s “Favorite Albums Of 2021” and a “Classical Album to Hear Right Now” by The New York Times. It will be premiered with the LA Philharmonic in May 2023. 

Since forming in New York in 2008, yMusic has distinguished itself as a thoroughly modern chamber group, defying orthodoxy and mounting acclaimed collaborations with the likes of Paul Simon, Ben Folds, John Legend, and Dirty Projectors. The group’s virtuosic execution and unique configuration have attracted the attention of high profile collaborators and inspired original works by some of today’s foremost composers, including Andrew Norman, Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, Son Lux, Missy Mazzoli, Marcos Balter, Judd Greenstein, and Gabriella Smith. They have performed around the world in venues of all sizes, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and Madison Square Garden.

YMUSIC TRACKLIST

Track Listing

Baragon

Zebras

Peter Inn

The Wolf

Flood

Sober Miles

Three Elephants

Whosay

Cloud

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