Artist Of The Week #278 - Yakul
This week’s Artist of the Week is future soul trailblazers Yakul – who have just released their new album ‘Gravity Pulls You Home’.
Gravity Pulls You Home intends to serve as a reminder of the healing power of music and creativity. Following a darker period of uncertainty, the band escaped to a writing retreat in the wilderness, blocking out the noise and finding a space they could work uninhibited and rediscover the magic and energy that first brought them together; “we cultivated a safe space where no idea was wrong and every suggestion was valid and had its place”. Featuring 12 transcending tracks, Yakul’s sophomore album is a journey through the realms of future-soul and a testament to their relentless creativity and intriguing sonic world.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey there Yakul, how are you? So your album is out now – how does it feel to have it out there?
Hey! It feels pretty surreal, you know. For so many years work to all lead up to this one day where it’s out in the world. It can feel pretty intense! I’m just very grateful that we’ve got to this point, we’ve had a bumpy ride for a couple years, but thanks to everyone’s hard work and the support of organisations like PRS & PPL for awarding us the Momentum Fund, it’s meant that we’ve been able to get here. I’m so excited for everyone to really get into this record front to back. It’s by far the best thing we’ve done, and I’m so proud of how it all fits together. When we got the masters back I went for a walk along the seafront and listened to the finished record for the first time. Honestly the feeling I got when it was over almost was enough without having anyone else hear it. That said, I can’t wait to see what people think.
It is called ‘Gravity Pulls You Home’ – what is the meaning behind that?
The album title speaks to the power of intuition over our lives. Sometimes we all lose sight of where we’re going but if we pay attention close enough and relinquish the need to control everything, we’ll be guided where we need to go.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories you are willing to share with us?
We wrote the whole record on three different writing retreats to the countryside. Two in Essex and one in Wales. The actual recording was all done in my (James’s) studio, apart from the drums and the live piano which we did at Echo Zoo in Eastbourne, with our bro Jim Macrae engineering (he also mixed the whole record). We had some pretty funny events happen in one spot when we were writing. We were all sleeping in an old caravan, and it turned out we weren’t alone haha. A rat, we named him Splinter, had managed to get inside. Splinter was pretty chill for a couple days but one time we came back in from writing and he’s just chilling in the kitchen. We tried to get him out and he ended up running up Tom’s leg and going under the oven. We had to move all our shit out and spent the final night sleeping in the writing room. We left a little earlier than planned ha.
What are the key influences behind the album?
I think we all brought different influences in the room for this one. For me, I wanted to base it off a trifecta of 80s sci fi soundtracks, retro video game soundtracks, and anime scores. I can definitely hear it in there, although as it tends to happen, we took many twists and turns creatively which is what makes the writing process so enjoyable. We worked hard to create an environment where no idea was wrong and we would try anything. This is such an important thing to do if you want to create freely.
If the album could be a soundtrack to any film – which one and why?
Love this. I could list so many 80s Sci-Fi and anime films for this. But I’m actually gonna go in a different direction. Every time we did a writing retreat we rewatched all of The Big Lez Show. What I love most about it, is how you start off thinking it’s just a dumb funny show. But then as you get deeper in you realise that Jarrad Wright is such a smart dude and that there’s an incredible depth to the show. I think we channeled some of that during the writing process, so I’d like to see this record be the soundtrack to the final season of Big Lez. This is a pretty weird answer btw but it feels right haha.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
I love the chorus lyrics off the final song on the album. It’s called Pulls You Home and it acts as a reprise of the album’s concept as a whole. “Loving, lonely, the same. The gravity pulls it. Loving, lonely, the same. The gravity pulls you home”. No matter where you are in your life, whether it’s all going to plan, or you feel totally off track. You need only relinquish the need to control it, and Gravity Pulls You Home.
Now the album is out there – what next for you?
We’ve got our UK tour coming up in September, which is going to be so much fun. We haven’t played in some of these cities in three years. Can’t wait to be back. Looking forward to taking some time and enjoying this project being completed and out. It’s too easy to look forwards straight away, so I’m looking to savour the moment and be grateful for what we’ve done.
