Blest by Yuno

Yuno’s full-length debut, Blest, out May 16 on Sub Pop, finds the enigmatic indie-pop visionary transforming the emo-tinged suburban malaise of his 2018 Moodie EP into more expansive, widescreen pop drama — suited for big moves and bigger stages. The kaleidoscopic sound he devised as a millennial hermit in his childhood bedroom in Florida has since broadened his horizons, taking him on tour with Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Superorganism, and soundtracking various series for Netflix and HBO. Imbued with elements of dream-pop, rock, trap, and psychedelia, his eclectic songs serve as bids for love and connection, which especially in the fractured era of social media, have resonated with many listeners who find solace in his vulnerability.

Yuno was born in New York to Jamaican parents from the U.K., and grew up in the coastal Southern city of Jacksonville, Florida. Raised on a sonic diet of reggae and hip-hop records — his father's copy of 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin’ was on regular rotation in the family car throughout the 2000s — Yuno's musical tastes began to diverge after his grandfather gifted him a skateboard that he found in a garbage can. Eventually, and unexpectedly, Yuno's new hobby would dovetail with a future career in music.

"The first time I ever got on a skateboard, I broke my foot," he recalls. It was while he was on the mend that he fully immersed himself in video games like Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, famous gateways for many young punks of the millennial generation. As he studied skate videos to build on his athletic technique, he also cultivated a sixth sense as a composer and overall curator of vibes. "I'm always visualizing things when I'm making music and that helps me complete the full picture," says Yuno. "To this day I'm like, 'What does it need to make it fit in a skate video?'"

Having taught himself the bass and guitar at home, his early material began as impressions of harder bands like HIM, Rancid, and AFI; later, he would embrace anti-folk heroes like the Moldy Peaches and Daniel Johnston. With the advent of the social media predecessor Myspace, Yuno began discovering more eclectic local Jacksonville acts, like indie-pop darlings Black Kids — who offered a more diverse look and eclectic sound for the Bold City, which had then been defined by white radio rockers like Limp Bizkit, Yellowcard, and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. "Seeing Black Kids' success showed me more of what I could do," says Yuno.

In time, Yuno taught himself to produce on his laptop, and filled his childhood bedroom with instruments to cultivate a more full-bodied sound, in which he married crunching pop-punk riffs with glimmers of synth strings Yuno uploaded his ballads of teenage longing to Soundcloud, where they began to catch fire within the indie blogosphere — and by 2014, caught the attention of Shabazz Palaces emcee and Sub Pop A&R representative Ishmael Butler. At that time, Yuno had never performed a live show, and could count the number of concerts he'd been to on one hand.

"He DMed me for new music, but I didn't have anything to bring him," recalls Yuno. "A year or so later, he came back and asked, ''Do you mind if I share your music with Sub Pop?' Apparently, they liked it, and I flew out to Seattle to meet everybody."

That visit resulted in a record deal with Sub Pop and eventually, his 2018 debut EP, Moodie. The record's evocative, yearning hooks and cinematic ambience made a suitable soundtrack for film and TV. His surfy pop track "Sunlight," a summer sketch he revitalized from 2012, was featured in an episode of the Netflix series Atypical; and the gossamer melancholy of "Fall in Love" made for a haunting needle drop in comedian Ramy Youssef's HBO special, Feelings.

By this time, Yuno had moved back to his birthplace of New York City and settled in Bushwick — just before the Covid-19 pandemic had threatened to stall his music career, along with the world. Sequestered at home once more, like the monastic days of his youth, Yuno began piecing together his foundation for Blest. "For the first time in my life, I was social, going to shows, and meeting new people," says Yuno. "Then I had to kind of go back and revert to just being in my bedroom all day. It was strange, but I was used to it!"

As the pandemic eased, Yuno welcomed collaborators like Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso and Patrick Wimberly of Chairlift, the latter who lends his sparkle to the fuzz-rock saunter of Blest track, "Massive" — "The bane of staying young is gettin’ older," sings Yuno, speaking to the all-too precious resource that is time. Co-producer Frank Corr, the NYC artist who performs as Morning Silk, introduced an array of vintage synthesizers to the musician.

Yuno's superpower lies in the way he mines a multitude of genres for their pop potential and surfaces with a tapestry that feels novel and fresh. Take, for instance, “Blest,” the immediate, blissful, and bright title track, which is inspired by Rich Harrison-breakbeats and Neptunes-esque jangle. Or the breezy single, "True," which he began writing at producer Sanborn’s Betty’s in Durham, NC, Yuno moderates a lover's quarrel with slick, trap percussions. Amid the breakbeated dream-rock of "Gimme Ocean," he introduces his guitar solo with a searing emo scream, run through an EarthQuaker Devices pedal. Don't let his sanguine aura or his sherbet pink wardrobe fool you; he can shred as hard as he wants to when he wants to.

All songs on Blest were written and performed by Yuno, co-produced by Yuno and Frank Corr, who also contributed keyboards, drums, and guitar throughout the record, with additional production and instrumentation by Patrick Wimberly (“True,” “Massive”) at The CRC in Brooklyn, and Nick Sanborn at Betty’s in Durham, NC (“True”). Blest was mixed by Steve Vealey and mastered by Joe La Porta.

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