Premiere: Listen to Exit Universe, the meditative new single from Yossarian

Yossarian are a London-based trio with members from all over the world - Ash Spencer (London), Joaquin Rodruiguez San Pedro (Argentina) and Sam Wallace (Melbourne) - who've been steadily touring the globe for the past couple of years. They've already got two albums under their belt in The Little We Know and Light Up My Head, and are marching towards the release of a third with All These Fictions.

Today we're excited to premiere the latest single from it, Exit Universe, a meditative new single featuring some beautiful harmonies with female vocalist Rhi. It's a gentle, somber single that still manages to leave you feeling pretty warm as it slowly crescendos over the full run time. We sent them a few questions to find out a bit more as well, and you can check it all out below:

Tell us about yourselves?

We're a London-based band from all over the world, the core of which is made up of an Englishman (Ash), an Argentine (Joaquin) and an Australian (Sam). We also play as a collective of up to six members when we tour around the world in countries like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

What kinda tunes we talkin’?

We've been compared to bands like The National, Joy Division and Pink Floyd. Think of a dark baritone voice underpinned by dreamy or accelerating guitars, with songs that ebb and flow into big build-ups including synths, strings and all manner of crazy sounds. Some have also compared us to Britney Spears, but I think she’s just more of an inspiration.

Production/writing process:

We wrote most of All These Fictions, our latest album, as we toured the UK, Europe and Australia. We'd always try to set aside a few days during the tour to go to a secluded studio in Dresden or in the Scottish highlands to just jam a few songs. We also wrote a couple of songs in the album, such as Universal Basic Income and A Temporary Consensus of Truth, in what's probably a rather unusual way. As Sam (drummer) studies in Melbourne for a majority of the year we are all a bit separated across the world, so he sends us some beats that he comes up with on his drum machine, and then Ash (singer) and Joaquin (guitarist) come up with the rest of the parts for it in London.

Can you tell us about your new single, Exit Universe?

Exit Universe is a collaboration between Yossarian and Rhiannon Bouvier, known for her main project Rhi, combining her trip hop sensitivities with our sombre yet uplifting melodies. The lyrics of the song follow the narrative of our concept album All These Fictions, challenging the listener to forgo the fictional lines and frameworks imposed by culture and society, and to seek their own counsel in the search for meaning. Halfway through Exit Universe, its melancholic tone gives way to a slowly building coda that starts shedding light on the shadows, and as the new backing vocals add layers upon layers over two contrasting guitars riffs, Rhi's beguiling voice and Ash's low baritone bid the listener to reach out with empathy.

Any shows coming up?

We've just played a couple shows for our single launches in London, and our first show of the year will be in Granada, Spain, in February. We've played in Spain several times but it'll be our first show in Granada so really excited about that one.

What’s the rest of the year have in store?

We have plans to tour Europe and the UK before the festival season in summer, and we hope to go down under again at the end of the year. We're also hoping to find a bit of time off in between gigs to go away to write some more. We already have a couple of seeds of
new songs that we'd like to explore.

Where can we hear more of your music?

All the usual places like Spotify, YouTube, iTunes. You can also get our albums on BANDCAMP.

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