For those of you who can’t quite place the name, the Los Angelean-by-way-of-New-York was the vocal powerhouse behind The Glitch Mob’s hit, “Fly By Night Only,” from their Love Death Immortality album that dropped earlier this year. A fan favorite, the track has been downloaded or viewed by some three million-plus folks already. What largely sets Yaa apart from the competition are her vocal chops.
Sure, on her debut, Flesh & Blood, there’s plenty of production chicanery, from overdubbed vocals to echo effects, but tracks like “Atlas” and “Wrestle” show a depth many of her counterparts simply cannot reproduce without a digital technician behind the boards. She has the good sense to compliment her vocal delivery with plaintive beats, stark as Sansa and subdued as a Cro-Magnon frat boy. While this isn’t trip hop, it isn’t too far removed from it, either. Yaarohs is a less over-the-top Bjork (though the cover art might argue the opposite), a less flamboyant BANKS. There are echoes of Enya here, as well. Stand-out single, “Amber,” proves the point nicely, languid yet powerful, a bit more juice in the tank than is found elsewhere on this promising first from a name that’s bound to stick in your mind. Just don’t confuse her with the similarly sounding Toyota model. You’ll almost assuredly get more mileage out of the singer.
