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Yumi Zouma’s first release in over a year signals a bold, kinetic new era for the beloved alt-pop band from Aotearoa
Mikayla Hubert
After nearly 18 months of silence, international alt-pop collective Yumi Zouma have re-emerged with “Bashville on the Sugar” — a shimmering, transportive return that folds dream-pop nostalgia into a rush of forward motion.
Out today via Nettwerk (Vacations, Panchiko), the single comes paired with a grainy, evocative video that cuts between photo studio vignettes, Mini DV footage of New York City, and flickering glimpses of the band in transit — a visual collage that mirrors the track’s movement-heavy DNA.
The song marks a new chapter for the beloved indie outfit, trading soft-focus sentimentality for something more urgent, more immediate.
Written across Mexico City, New York, and their homeland of Aotearoa, “Bashville on the Sugar” hums with the rhythm of travel — its core shaped by real field recordings from the NYC subway, layered beneath Olivia Campion’s breathless drumming and the swirling, ever-escalating guitar work of Charlie Ryder and Josh Burgess.
Christie Simpson’s voice floats above it all, a heavenly tether as she sings of fleeting connection and final glances: “one last glance as they’re closing the doors.”
“The first song on our forthcoming project that we really dug into,” the band shares, “it’s an ode to the subway and public transport — New York’s in particular. The band has a deep affinity for it; its reliability and the access it provides are unlike anything we experienced in New Zealand. At the same time, its unpredictability — what you’ll see, who you’ll bump into — keeps each trip rooted in the present.”
It’s that balance — between chaos and calm, control and surrender — that makes “Bashville on the Sugar” such a compelling return.
Melodic, radiant, and laced with existential velocity, it sounds like Yumi Zouma stepping boldly into 2025, arms open to the unknown.
“Bashville on the Sugar” by Yumi Zouma is out now via Nettwerk.
In This Article: new single, Yumi Zouma
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