15 Years On, yMusic Revel In Reinvention On Thrilling New Album Out Today

YMUSIC Out Now on StorySound Records, Listen HERE

Album Release Performances Set For 2220 Arts & Archives in Los Angeles on May 9, Public Records in Brooklyn on May 12

Today, yMusic — who NPR has championed as “one of the groups that has really helped to shape the future of classical music” — releases their new album YMUSICon StorySound Records. This new album celebrates 15 years of yMusic’s innovative approach to chamber music, conjuring moments of sublime mystery, rhythmic invention, and complicated resolution — Stravinsky and Radiohead, minimalism and melodicism colliding in a series of concise sound sculptures. It’s a marvel of group composition and innovative musicianship. Listen to YMUSIC here.  More than anything, the members of yMusic are connectors — musicians whose collaborative approach has meant working with virtually everyone imaginable, from the biggest pop stars to vanguards of the experimental world: Taylor Swift to Philip Glass, Caroline Shaw to Jay-Z, Joanna Newsom to Gwen Stefani. As yMusic, they’ve performed with Paul Simon, John Legend, Ben Folds, Nico Muhly, and so many more. The new album is a culmination of yMusic’s collaborative spirit and expansive, fluid musical vocabulary. Some previously shared track from YMUSIC include: “Zebras”, which The New York Times calls “a minimalistic but eventful romp” that “makes the most of its three-and-a-half minutes." “The Wolf,” a track where the group asks themselves: “What is the loudest mood yMusic is capable of creating?” “Cloud,” a spare, hopeful work that NPR Music says is “all shiny, fluffy lightness — a perfect pop song length track to hum along with as spring comes into bloom.”

Later this 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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