Taking Umbrage by Yowie

The fourth YOWIE album.

Unmatched for their a singular, befuddling style of hyper-composed rock, YOWIE’s instantly recognizable approach baffles and excites listeners. Yet, despite being unabashedly unnatural and counter intuitive at every turn, YOWIE grooves.

For “Taking Umbrage”, the ambition of the material demanded YOWIE assemble an international lineup with impeccable credentials. The band now features Daniel Kennedy (also of the band Cleric, which has its own progressive metal oeuvre, and has worked with the likes of John Zorn and Trey Spruance), as well as Jack Tickner (Basil's Kite, Wollongong, and solo microtonal work), in addition to founding member, Defenestrator (YOWIE, YOWIE and YOWIE).

“Taking Umbrage” is both the group's longest album and the one that took the longest to create, and one listen will show listeners why. There is no fast-tracking YOWIE’s meticulous approach to composition.

“Taking Umbrage” raises the bar even higher, defying the boundaries of rock to forge a new path full of twists and turns that will challenge and excite aficionados of math rock, prog rock, RIO, extreme metal... and the outer limits and extremities of genres yet to be identified.

.....

About YOWIE.

For more than a quarter century, SKiN GRAFT Records’ YOWIE have been blowing minds with their utterly unique, baffling compositions and notoriously ecstatic must-be-seen-to-be-believed live performances.

Their first album, 2004’s “Cryptooology” was an instant cult classic, has become a permanent resident of countless “Best Math Rock Albums of All-Time” lists, and has cemented itself as the ultimate “dare” for ambitious musicians to learn.

Since then, YOWIE released two more full-length albums, a double split 7-inch, teamed up with The Jesus Lizard’s David Yow, and earlier this year, released a split with France’s equally unclassifiable Pili Coït.

.....

KEY POINTS & HIGHLIGHTS:

- YOWIE will tour Europe this Fall, with more shows to be announced.

- Deluxe Gatefold LP Jacket designed by Arnulf Roedler, acclaimed architect of YOWIE’s “Synchromysticism” album art. 

- Pressed on Gumbone Blue Colored Vinyl and includes collectible Footlong OBI.

- Ultimate Edition Bundle and MOD CD in Digipak Lite packaging available exclusively from SKiN GRAFT Records and direct from the band. CD includes additional artwork and features a different sequence than the vinyl.

.....

PRESS QUOTES:

“As challenging as it is infectious” - MATHCORE INDEX

“Frantically disorganized as ants sometimes appear there is always a purpose, a direction, a method in their apparent madness…” -THE ORGAN

“Since their inception, Yowie have ruled a boundless field of quantum irreverence for all things conventional… Each record has its own quirks, but also sounds distinctly like no one else could possibly do it.” – FECKING BAHAMAS

“Make sure to bring your shovel with you to a Yowie listening party. This St. Louis band has a knack for leaving jaws on the floor. Don’t be rude, scoop up your own melted mandible.” – BEARDED GENTLEMEN MUSIC

“Everything in the music is connected - even if it seems like Yowie are randomly throwing curveballs our way. Interspersed throughout the guitars’ surreal webs are irreverent bursts of staccato rhythms, like sharp geometrical shapes being thrown in and juxtaposed against the incomprehensible Lovecraftian architecture. But eventually these interruptions are assimilated into the whole, with Yowie coming full circle by way of a route you can’t really follow or comprehend, like a Dali-esque snake eating its own tail.” - SPUTNIK MUSIC

“Yowie is a complete and utter musical enigma. Less a band than a carefully orchestrated brain trust that examines every note, beat and nuance at the micro and macroscopic levels, they are the kind of unit that will spend hours upon hours pouring over a seven second piece of music to ensure that it is perfectly crafted and presented.” - GHETTOBLASTER

“The musical prowesses displayed in this amalgamation of forward-thinking and progressive math rock lie as much in the muscles as in the neurons. It… challenges, inspires, and mesmerizes, all at once.” - CAN THIS EVEN BE CALLED MUSIC

“St. Louis’ Yowie have meticulously and tirelessly crafted an über-brainy progressive rock beast that is unequivocally its own thing.” - CLAIRVOYANT

Yowie plays a dense foreign language through two guitars which communicate in an angry six string banter over strictly scattered drums. This power trio speaks in alien code that's never fully deciphered. Daniel Kennedy (Cleric) and Jack Tickner (Basil's Kite) now join founding member Defenestrator on the band's 4th album, which is currently mixing.

Facebook
skingraftrecords.com
Instagram