Brussels-based six-piece Yôkaï release their third studio album ‘Humboldt’ today, October 16, via Humpty Dumpty Records. The album brings together jazz, psychedelia, dub and experimental rock, with a more direct, guitar-driven sound than their previous recordings.

Formed in Brussels in 2011, Yôkaï initially drew heavily on ethio-jazz before gradually moving towards a more experimental sound. Following the tour for their 2022 album ‘Coup de grâce’, the group settled into a six-piece lineup and began developing new material through improvisation during a series of residencies. The current lineup features Yannick Dupont on drums and synthesizers, Alex Gilain on Moog bass and baritone guitar, Eric Bribosia on keyboards, Jordi Grognard on saxophone and other wind instruments, and guitarists Clément Nourry and Ivan Tirtiaux. For ‘Humboldt’, the musicians have put more emphasis on rhythm, with analogue synthesizers, distorted guitars and dub influences playing a larger part in the arrangements. There are also traces of 1980s library music, an influence that has become more apparent as the band has moved away from its early sound. The album was recorded in September 2024 at Free House in Brussels, with Ted Clark engineering. Pieterjan Coppejans handled the mixing at Robot Studio in Ghent, while Matt Colton mastered the record at Metropolis Studios in London. The title partly refers to Venezuela’s Humboldt Glacier, which had shrunk so dramatically that it was reclassified as an ice field in 2024. Its disappearance is one of the ideas behind the album’s themes of change and uncertainty.

<a href="https://yokaibxl.bandcamp.com/album/humboldt">Humboldt by YOKAI</a>

‘Humboldt’ is released on vinyl, CD and digitally through Humpty Dumpty Records.

Headline credit: Axel Gilain

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