March 15, 2020 on RateYourMusic.
Release: Yufi (Yufi, 2020)
I saw Yufi live just a few nights ago at Pizza Planet, a little single-car garage in Eugene that mostly is played by acts the home's residents are friends with or find truly special. By the time they played, it was pretty late. I was starting to feel that kind of floaty tired happy show energy, and with the garage all closed up and full of vanilla fog and lit up rhythmically by a few bare bulbs, it really looked like we were all floating a little. Sounded like it, too. It was special.
Listening to their new self-titled again (I think they played the whole thing that night, just hours before it officially dropped) it still carries that feeling. While nothing will really be as special as hearing it live in that foggy little garage, the combination of electronic music's rhythm and sort of healing escapism and the emotionality of post-rock and screamo vocals creates a uniquely human, ethereal release. It's truly fascinating work, and even if it doesn't touch you quite as strongly as it does me, its 25 minute run is an interesting one.