Yassou
Continuing a path that gained momentum back in 2015 with their stunning visual EP series, to performing with the Louisville Ballet and numerous other endeavors & projects—YASSOU works tirelessly to expand & elaborate the audio art form with the Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble, returning with the presentation premiere of “Study in Blue” from their latest visual song cycle. Captured live at Oakland’s Zoo Labs by The Understory with audio recorded by Brendan Dreaper; YASSOU starts off with the baroque dialogues on “Study in Blue” where illustrative surveys of intimacy are met with soul quelling strings that stir in the strangest of ways. Creating true panoramas for the ear & spirit to heal, YASSOU & the Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble create a feel of flying between worlds as further experienced on “In Fits in Dreams”, conquering the connections between heart & head on “TTWN”, completing the sophisticated cycle with a cover of Sufjan Stevens’ “John My Beloved” that ponders the passages & shifts in the changes of dialogues that transpire between people that are equally evolving & growing.
A group that has been focused on developing their musical model into an ever evolving aesthetic organism for years—YASSOU’s consciousness opening approach is expanded outward to new inexplicable levels with the aid of the Juxtaposition Chamber Ensemble’s Cellista (ensemble leader Freya Seeburger), Kristina Dutton, Ariel Wang and Hilary Lewis. The JCE have established themselves as forward minded innovators who challenge the conventions & traditions of orchestral chamber pop as witnessed by collaborations with everyone from The Coup, Beats Antique, Jazz Mafia, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Van Dyke Parks, The Awesome Orchestra Collective, Tanya Donelly, along with many more fellow luminaries. Combined with the multidisciplinary pursuits of YASSOU, the elaborate team together moves the lens from exhibitions of melancholy, to inspiration that then takes the entire arrangement towering higher with an ecstatic elation and joy that feels truly ineffable. Every artist involved connects every note, rhythmic metric, breath & beat to one another that collects like together in a limitless height of stratospheric notes that flies higher than the skies’ own reaches. At first softly, slowly, dearly & gradually the feelings & thoughts collect until all aspects of emotions & involved sensations are swept up into a whirling sense of encouragement, confidence, happiness, hope & the purpose to make a constructive & beautiful difference in our collective world.
YASSOU provided some thoughts on the inspiration at work behind “Study in Blue”:
This song is about the odyssey your heart takes when you are deeply in love with someone you cant reach or touch. It’s about studying the corners of sadness and the meditative sweetness that can reside there. Its about getting older and learning to be true to yourself rather than being what others expect you to be. It is about protecting your powers so you can still use them for good. And about the stopping the fight against things you cant change and learning to put that energy to things you can.
The title is a nod to Picasso’s blue period and the melancholy beauty that resides in those works.
YASSOU all provided the following about their collaborative projects at large:
In 2016 we performed one of our compositions with The Louisville Ballet and Orchestra. It was the first time we heard things we had written on synthesizers and on our computers be played with live strings and horn arrangements. It had this raw power and beauty to it, the way the humaneness and imperfection of the sounds and players blended with the rigidness of the original parts was something we wanted to explore more of. These sessions are us beginning to do that. Working in the area where the classical performing arts and pop music and culture collide has become a focus for us. We feel like these audiences, performance spaces and styles have so much to offer each other and we want to provide more opportunities for performance and collaboration across disciplines and audiences. We are also incredibly grateful for the willingness, and quality that both the Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble and The Understory lent to this project. Without them or the continued support of Zoo Labs this idea would still be just that.
About The Understory:
The Understory is a motion picture company of two dedicated to amplifying the mission of individuals and organizations who work to create impact as a force for good. By relying on the multidisciplinary language of film, we aim to foster awareness, build community, and inspire action to address our most pressing social and environmental problems. We thrive at the intersection of non-fiction and narrative storytelling, weaving in and out of embracing the blurry line between the lens and the stage; science and art; poetry and fact.
