Yves Tumor’s Glittering Melancholia in Safe In The Hands Of Love

Yves Tumor | Safe In The Hands Of Love | Warp Records

Release Date: 6 September 2018

Written by Jenna Dreisenstock

Image Credit: Vitali Gelwich

Our fingertips calloused in sympathy; the sweet and endearing ache emerging from a spectral darkness and heavy-heart. The tangible growth of the self in mayhem, in which we fidget nervously within the sweat of our palms and the rose-gold of each action, reaction – wound and hand-holding. The intangible and conflicting, the juxtaposition in thought and our truths that conflict yet remain valid all at the same time. The bittersweet in loving and tender touch, the break-away from open introspection as we gaze at the passionate, singed embers of each action; clasped tightly within a safe place, alert in love for danger.

American born, now Turin based producer and multi-instrumentalist Yves Tumor has brought us a beautifully sculpted experience in Safe In The Hands Of Love with his visceral willingness to explore his truths – unafraid to break away, to scream-shatter the shackles of labels and embrace pure vulnerability in true genre-defiance and experimentation; Safe In The Hands Of Love is so open, so willing to explore every path: to truly capture the personality exposed in this album is difficult to put into words – as with each track, comes a brand new experience.

Opening in the soak of bubbling drone, ‘Economy In Freedom’ introduces itself in a sweet science-fiction splendour; Tumor’s vocals appearing tender as a phantasm, the shimmer seascape swelling into an intimate azure – the crash of a beat-driven wave. Timbres glitter, shatter in electronic glissando amongst the overwhelm of atmospheric swell; a beautiful darkness enshrouding a droning shoreline. A sweet yet touchingly painful melancholia of ebb and flow swim amongst the ambient experimentation – the driven quiver pushing the track forward in a heavy relaxation of Wave-esque break. The confidence of relaxation, fleshed out sympathetic glitch sweeps amongst Tumor’s compassionate vocal imprint, an immersive juxtaposition of comfort and loving gloom.

‘Noid’ greets us with a strong, self-assured heart-beat kick; reminiscent of the confident propel of anger – gentle in the palms of consolation; the upbeat, yet assertive feel of traditional Hip-Hop breaks through in genre-defiance; a contrasting saccharine tempo combined with the cumbersome truth of political melancholia. Tumor’s lyrics sting painful in the contrasting energetic tempo with animated pop and soulful R&B influence:

“Sister, mother, brother, father
Have you, have you looked outside?
I’m scared for my life
They don’t trust us
I’m not part of the killing spree
A symptom, born loser, statistic…”

As the track progresses, an overwhelm of gloaming begins to break through the skin; the Tartarean nature of the ever layering timbres cry; the aching correlation between textural electronics insidiously heaving and falling – police sirens beneath the foundation of Tumor’s vulnerability in his vocals.

An embrace of gently coloured melody shimmers, dimly lit embers in our palms as ‘Recognizing The Enemy’ opens in affectionate strings; accompanied by an empathetic textural companionship floating in atmospheric melancholia. Tumor’s vocals, poetic in their radical softness, sadness – are introduced with resilient kick-drum pulse amongst the introspective strings, as they fade; a blood-pump ache in increased tempo and atmospheric glitch-stricken empathy; a heart-wrenching loneliness accompanying an endearing cello, the sheer power of the beat assured in progression – climatic in it’s sphere of engulfing isolation, a bittersweet beauty.

“You look so different
You love somebody else
It hurts so much
Knowing that I couldn’t help
Remove the part of me
Inside my own living hell
I look so different…”

Staying true to the albums title, Safe In The Hands of Love; Yves Tumor has managed to sculpt a sound so lovingly bittersweet, a conflict of joy and broken melancholia seeps into the heart, blistering the listeners palms whilst simultaneously treating their wounds – the embrace of safety in chaos, empathy engulfing anger. Fear treated in the sweetest, most tender of medicine whilst breaking through the flesh in sharp conflict.

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