Review Summary: Yves Tumor presents a far more cohesive body of work than in past outings, sporting bombastic highs, although its rough draft lows hold back from excellence.
Yves Tumor, Heaven to a Tortured Mind, brings modern electronic stylization and sampling trends to a mix of 60's psych, 70's glam, and Britpop. The amalgamation is successful in its composition, arrangement and cohesion. The record is filled with melodic bass lines, punchy drum fills, and grandiose choruses at which nothing is left on the table. Unfortunately, the highs of the record teeter with a 50/50 split of drab experimental rough drafts, and grating one note performances that act more as potential b-sides than useful interludes.
Gospel For a New Century opens the record with dissonant, apocalyptic horn samples, and quickly finds its way into arguable the most bombastic chorus of the year. A jagged bass groove accompanies Sean Bowie's own angular vocal delivery and sets a clear tone for what the record intends to offer the listener. The track builds with all the right ingredients and pushes forward full force to the last beat. The record shifts into dream collage of sorts a few tracks in with Kerosene which unveils Bowie's intentions for the record. The Britpop elements are on full display aided by psych rock verses and yet another theatrical chorus. Fuzzed out guitar harkens T. Rex era glam rock while yet another earworm melody is delivered.
Yves Tumor brings it home, albeit a little too soon, on Romanticist and Dream Palette. The instrumentals are smoothly surreal the choruses are angst ridden and energized. The bass sits in the pocket driving both tracks and allows the transition to feel seamless despite the tonal shift. The move into Dream Palette adds a ton of dynamic to the mid section of the record. Dream Palette is adorned with firework samples and crashing drum fills to set into the surrealist sound collage. Super Stars ushers itself in and ultimately completes the most formidable stretch of the record.
Unfortunately the record falters in its final stretch when it indulges in experimentation, track interludes, and moody soul tracks that don't have a backbone to stand on when met on the flip side of its own standouts. Folie Imposee is lackluster. The vocal delivery is uninteresting and the chord changes are unappealingly generic. Yves Tumor attempts to use arrhythmic drums and vocal delivery to have experimental appeal but falls short.
Strawberry Privilege feels like a glorified interlude and in turn overstays its welcome by delivering monotony for nearly four minutes. To make matters worse it is positioned in the home stretch and is the last full form statement delivered. The following track should have been a b-side interlude and the closer is a soul/psych track, while palatable, pales in comparison to the grandiosity of the albums opener and mid section.
This is not to say the first half of the album is without its misgivings. Medicine Burn and Identity Trade are ultimately forgettable and borderline obnoxious in nature Bowie had adjusted the track listing and placed them in with these later tracks they may have provided enough energy to close the album properly. Sean Bowie shines the most when making use of varied vocal delivery and phrasing but the record falters when vocal patterns are repeated ad nauseam.
In conclusion Yves Tumor has created a cohesive and well arranged statement piece with Heaven To a Tortured Mind. Bowie does a great job taking influence from a wide array of genre and melding them together in a way that feels fresh rather than bits and pieces of other artists. The high points of the record illustrate how brightly these arrangements can shine. While the record manages to strike an appropriate balance when all is said and done the track placement and an abundance of lackluster interludes and rough draft tracks hold the record back from excellence.
