Spotlight On... ASTER YVS
We shine a spotlight on Glasgow outfit ASTER YVS, fka ASTER, and bring you a first listen to their new single Crimson
Towards the end of a busy August, Glasgow outfit ASTER YVS' forthcoming new single Crimson landed in our inbox, making an instant impression on our ears. Its playful, woozy, and intricate three-and-a-half minute runtime is packed with intriguing sounds, curious synths, jangling guitars, changes of pace and changes in vibe, akin to falling in and out of a dream. Holding it all together is a sensational lilting vocal turn from Alyssa Smillie, whose voice perfectly matches the twists and turns of the song, pulling you into ASTER YVS' almost cinematic world.
Crimson is set for general release on Friday 8 September, but we're delighted to be bringing you a first listen today in the below player (click here if it's not displaying correctly), alongside a chat with Smillie as we shine a spotlight on ASTER YVS and get to know them a little better.
What was the reason for the name change from ASTER to ASTER YVS? And is there any meaning behind the new name?
ASTER YVS started off as a solo project of mine, but evolved into a collaborative effort with Kyle Cuthbert, who co-produced the new material and played most of the guitar parts, and Lewis Nicholson who recorded the basslines for the new releases. We felt the identity of the project had shifted and wanted to reflect this through the name change. We really did rack our brains trying to find a fitting name, but the YVS came about more as a stylistic choice. It’s pronounced like “eves” and we felt like it flowed quite naturally with the original name, it stuck pretty quickly into the identity of the project.
As well as a name change, the sound has slightly shifted too; the contrast between the more electronic instrumentation and found sounds on your last single As We Were felt really fresh to me – what’s been the main reason/inspiration for the shift in musicality?
Kyle inspired a lot of the shift through bringing his style of music making and influences. He spent some time on building guitar parts but focused more time on the drums, synths and sound manipulation, a lot of which was done in close collaboration. Having certain bits of gear on hand that we incorporated into our songwriting had a big impact on the way we produced, such as drum machines, synths and an Octatrack sampler, which all brought many possibilities within their limitations. I also began experimenting with using field recordings as composition material for other projects around this time and there was definitely some bleed into ASTER YVS.
Our listening habits were [also] opening up more and perhaps pushed us to challenge the previous material. We were listening to a lot of highly stimulated electronic music such as HAAi, A. G. Cook’s 7G, and John Frusciante’s Maya when we were producing As We Were and Crimson. The influences are a bit more apparent in Crimson with the chaotic drums and instrumental changes, but this probably had an impact on the synth and cyclical feeling of As We Were as well.
Your new single Crimson plays around with the bending of pace and time signatures; can you tell us about how the song came about? Who/what inspired it and what’s it about?
I wrote the melody and lyrics over an original rhythm guitar part but we sort of deconstructed the foundation and built the instrumentation around the vocals. Kyle cooked up those sharp guitar lines and drum machine beats which set us in a bit of a chaotic direction and the rest of the production was focused on leaning into it; Lewis was on bass for this one as well. The tempo changes from the original rhythm part worked to our advantage to disorient the track even more, and we messed with the pacing using contrasting rhythms and faux builds.
The song is a bit of an emotional process lyrically, trying to understand how one can completely lose a sense of self in the presence of someone else. I was dealing with these emotions at the time, as well as relating to others who had gone through similar experiences, signified by the character 'Caroline' in the song. There’s some shock and self-anger in Crimson for letting the relationship with the self become so distorted, but there’s a general shift in perspective, a realisation that something has to change in order to prevent this from becoming a repeating pattern. Although it’s an upbeat song, there’s a lot of disjointedness in both the lyrical ideas and instrumentation.
What’s next for ASTER YVS? Will there be more new music before the year’s out? Do you have any gigs lined up?
We do have more tracks that we self-produced from the same period, which most likely will make an appearance in 2023. They get a little darker from here on out, perfect for the coming winter months. For gigs, you’ll be able to see us live in a couple of months with our new set-up, and we’ll be focusing a lot on live performances in the new year!
Crimson is released on 8 Sep