To get to know Yemrot you first need to meet Dill Dandin. A character of the Margate-based musician Jimi Tormey’s mind, which may or may not have come to fruition after its creator witnessed Elton John’s meme-triggering lockdown performance of I’m Still Standing.
However, it was the fictional figure’s encounter with a sinkhole that’s the inspiration not just behind the name of Yemrot’s debut mini-album The Sunken Garden – but also its wandering, gleefully maximalist 12-minute centrepiece (The Ballad Of Dill Dandin)
“The character of Dill Dandin that formed in my mind was funny and so was enjoyable to juxtapose with some of the more serious or emotional themes of my music” Tormey says. “It was also fun to make music to the framework of a narrative in using sounds and changes of atmosphere to accent the story I had written.”
Opener Tomtom contains perhaps some of the biggest pop moments of the record but at nearly six minutes long retains a plenty of room to take breath even as it strides through moments of 60’s inspired flower pop and tilted psychedelia.
“This song was borne of inebriation. Upon leaving my local ‘the tap room’ to walk home an edible and too much alcohol crept up on me and gave me such an out of body experience that I couldn’t find my way home.” Tormey explains. “..this song became a way of exploring what it means to let go and accept some sort of ironic determinism as the only means of getting to wherever somebody hopes to.”
With their blend of playfulness and graduate-level instrumentation, Dorcha deftly prove that improvisational zeal and conservatory-level precision aren't mutually exclusive. Bandcamp Album of the Day Nov 16, 2020
Grizzly Bear’s classic debut gets a 15th anniversary vinyl reissue, with a digital companion featuring a bevy of remixes. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 12, 2020
This may be Nate Kinsella's "dad record," but the array of experimental sounds and soulful songs on offer evidence a new creative peak. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 23, 2024