Yumi Zouma’s music – budget-plush, instantly poignant – sounds placeless. It could have come from anywhere, and yet it was made everywhere – or at least in countries as far-flung as France (Charlie Ryder), America (Josh Burgess) and New Zealand (Kim Pflaum), where the three members live. It’s a very modern way of operating, via Dropbox. They used to live together in a house in Christchurch, until it was destroyed in the city’s 2011 earthquake. They used that terrible event as the impetus to scatter, but their connection lingers in the songs they file-share into existence. It’s dreampop, only this time there is a good reason for them to be making hazy, drowsy music – it was often assembled in half-waking states after the demos arrived across conflicting time zones.
You would never know that Ryder and Burgess (who works in NYC for Captured Tracks, specifically on the label’s Flying Nun catalogue) used to be in NZ disco-punks Bang! Bang! Eche! They’re all about softness, hardly sharing rock’s essential mistrust of the mellifluous, flaunting Pflaum’s cut(i)e vocals, which rarely reach beyond a whisper. If you measure a band’s worth, their ability to convey authentic emotion, by volume and technique, be warned that Pflaum is more Sarah Cracknell than Sarah Vaughan. Her voice works perfectly as part of Yumi Zouma’s music.
The Fat Angel Sings 