Yumi Ito - Ysla

The new album Ysla by Yumi Ito has become a true tidal current of personal stories, impressive improvisations, and the unique voice of the Swiss-Polish-Japanese singer, composer, and improviser. Musically, the work moves between art-pop, jazz, and neoclassical; thematically, it deals with loneliness & separation, the world ending, and rebirth. In deep self-reflections, Ito has developed her vocal improvisation into a kind of universal language that can be understood anywhere. In addition, for the first time she recorded all piano parts herself, complemented by Kuba Dworak on double bass and Iago Fernández on drums. In addition, there are illustrious guests like Chris Hyson (synths; Jordan Rakei, The Magic Lantern, Snowpoet) and Szymon Mika (g), with whom Yumi Ito also plays in a duo. Mixing & mastering of the seven original compositions was done by sound engineer Daniel Dettwiler at Studio Idee und Klang, using the same mixing console that Queen and Supertramp already used. For all these reasons, Ysla (release: 14/04/22 via Enja Records) isn't simply Yumi Ito's fifth album under her own name, but marks a new peak in her opus.