Photo Credit Iona Wolff 2020
The new single – available now (on EOA Recordings)
“A bold, sprawling extravaganza of rich textures, lush arrangements and intense emotion. Think the sonic soundscapes of Radiohead meet the angular rock impetus of Editors and the creative genius of Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ album, and you’ll be somewhere sonically close.” Record Of The Day
From ‘I AM ALADDIN’ – the debut album, released October 16th 2020
Available today, “Pyramids” is the new single and video by yllwshrk, a thrillingly original new band who fuse alt-rock and modern classical music. The second single to be taken from yllwshrk’s debut album I AM ALADDIN – due October 16 on EOA Recordings – “Pyramids” features the London Contemporary Orchestra, saxophone virtuoso Nick Roth, and young Scottish jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie, while the video features Ellie Fergusson, the 2019 winner of BBC TV’s The Greatest Dancer.
“Pyramids deals with pyramids of influence,” comments yllwshrk’s Ian Anderson. “Every artist has their own set of influences who helped shaped their artistic voice, who in turn have their own set of influences who helped shaped their artistic voice. Every artist begins their own personal journey first by copying their heroes, before growing in confidence and originality until they discover their own unique voice. This is clear throughout history, from Beethoven copying Mozart, to Oasis copying The Beatles.
“One of yllwshrk’s main musical influences are Radiohead – who I’ve been lucky enough to record with – and the impetus for the musical material of Pyramids came from one of their greatest songs, Pyramid Song, which in turn derived from Charles Mingus’ Freedom.
“The pyramid idea also shaped the musical material in a more literal sense: the sliding string parts throughout form a pyramid shape, as does to a lesser extend the chorus vocal line.”
Directed by Eve McConnachie, the video for “Pyramids” was choreographed by former Principal Dancer of Scottish Ballet Eve Mutso and features Mutso along with Ellie Fergusson, 2019 winner of BBC TV’s The Greatest Dancer. Reflecting the song’s theme of learning from your heroes, the young dancer is initially utterly reliant on, and intertwined with, the older dancer. As the song progresses, she begins to experiment and grow in confidence, developing her own voice until she no longer needs her artistic hero. She has become her own artist.
“Pyramids” follows yllwshrk’s debut single “And Let Them Glow”, which features Scottish singer-songwriter Hannah Read and the Maxwell String Quartet, winners of the 2017 Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition.
Hailing from both sides of Hadrian’s Wall, members of yllwshrk have appeared on albums such as Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool, Frank Ocean’s Blonde, Actress’ LAGEOS, Thom Yorke’s Anima, and Foals’ Holy Fire as members of the London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO). They have performed live with artists such as Little Simz, Goldfrapp, Ry X, Eric Clapton, Deltron 3030, and Elbow, as well as regularly giving classical chamber music recitals across the UK & Europe and performing and recording with many of the UK’s leading orchestras.
The balancing of musical genres from drastically different philosophies and traditions is reflected in the album’s title: I AM ALADDIN references BlackRock Inc.’s Aladdin programme, which appears in Adam Curtis’ darkly compelling film HyperNormalisation as an example of how modern technocrats attempt to manage the chaos and complications of the real world. This unease with much of the modern world is explored throughout I AM ALADDIN, the tone and subject of the songs often taking inspiration from Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror or Frankie Boyle’s old Guardian columns.
yllwshrk have summed up their spirit of experimentation — as well as the ethos of cross-genre and cross-art-form collaboration — in their band name, taken from ‘The Yellow Shark’, Frank Zappa’s foray into contemporary classical music alongside Ensemble Modern.
yllwshrk aren’t rock. They aren’t classical. They aren’t a series of algorithms either. They’re musical misfits who embrace the current blurring of genres and push that to the extreme.
yllwshrk: Sam West vocals, Matt Isaac lead guitars, Ian Anderson guitars/string arrangements, Dave Brown bass/synths, Feargus Brennan drums/percussion, David Donaldson electronics/audio manipulation
yllwshrk’s debut album I AM ALADDIN is available on EOA Recordings, October 16, 2020
