Yonaka - Seize the Power

 

Yonaka are a British rock band based in Brighton consisting of Theresa Jarvis on vocals, George Edwards on guitar, Alex Crosby on bass and keyboard and Robert Mason on drums.  They released their debut album "Don't wait 'til tomorrow" in 2019 and have been releasing singles off "Seize the power" this year in the run up to the release of this project.  I say project because although all songs at the very least feature Yonaka. Rather than calling this an EP or an album, they are calling this 8 track release a mix tape.  Which to be honest confuses me a bit, so I will tackle why first.

When I was younger, I used to always make mixtapes and they consisted of my favourite songs recording them onto blank cassettes.  First point of confusion Yonaka here are on every track with a few guests coming in and contributing to a couple of songs.  So, I decided to look up why some artists choose to call their releases mixtapes and found that this is generally something rappers do.   From www.complex.com "it sends a signal to the fans and press to bring a different set of expectations, and to lower the pressure a little bit".  Ok so maybe this release is a departure from their first album but still a bit confusing. How many artists have changed their sound from album to album?  Answer: a lot!

But I would guess the reason for calling it a mixtape is because although they songs have that common theme running through the lyrics.  The tracks themselves are different.  If I'm honest I don’t think they had to do this, look at albums like "amo" by Bring me the Horizon or the latest Wolf Alice album "Blue Weekend".  Both these albums are so diverse, and I bet the artists didn't even think about calling it a mixtape.  What I am saying is there is nothing wrong with artists coming out with diverse albums.  Especially when the content of the record is as good as what Yonaka have produced here.

The record starts with "Ordinary" which was the first track I heard by Yonaka and is an absolutely, all out banger of a rock song.  I love the way the song builds up and Theresa’s voice sores in the choruses.  It's completely majestic.  This has my vote for one of the tracks of the year.  Obviously, this track made me investigate the band further and I found more and more they are not just one hit wonders.  Title track "Seize the power" sees Theresa's vocals delivered with more attitude at points mixed with more straight forward vocals.  It's almost like mixing Rage against the machine with Lady Gaga.  No bad thing and the end result is something fresh.

The way I see this release it feels like different stages of anger throughout.  The most ferocious of all being, "Clique" which features Fever333.  The swearing and aggression of this track are unreal and not for the faint hearted or easily offended.  Again, that Rage against the machine influence come in.  Then in stark contrast to that "Anthem" which closes out the record is a piano ballad finishing off with a string sectioned outro.  Theresa shows off her incredible range in this song and the band show off their musical flexibility.  "Call me a saint" and "Raise your glass" also great tracks and "Greedy" and "Get out" certainly fit nicely onto the record and far from reduce the quality of the output.

Overall, this is an enjoyable record.  I would have loved for it to be a full album (10 tracks plus) but at the same time I'm just grateful this music is out there in the world.  Probably one of my favourite bands which I have only discovered this year.  It will be interesting to see if the next proper album will feature any of these songs or if they are working on completely fresh output for their 2nd album proper.