Montréal-based experimental trio, Yoo Doo Right, have shared their mammoth-sounding single, Don’t Think You Can Escape your Purpose along with announcing details of their forthcoming debut album, also titled ‘Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose’ which is out via Mothland on May 21, 2021. Inspired by the pounding rhythmic improvisations found in krautrock, the group wed noisy, melodic guitar parts, effect-heavy synthesizer soundscapes, nonchalant bass grooves and patented percussive furies into a literal wall of sound. Justin Cober (guitar, synthesizers, vocals), Charles Masson (bass) and John Talbot (drums, percussions), in their honest approach to experimentation, engage with elements of shoegaze, post-rock and psychedelia, crafting a unique sound that could be described as a “car crash in slow motion”. Watch the visual for the Don’t Think You Can Escape your Purpose single via YouTube below.
Speaking about the album-titled single, a fitting intro to the record’s chiseled riffs, contemplative soundscapes and foray into heady-psychedelia, they say: “It’s about a person who is losing touch with reality. Who thinks he has a higher purpose and is supposed to be an ambassador to a higher extraterrestrial race. It’s a looming atmospheric rhythm and crawl.”
Director, Justin Cober adds: “In an attempt to achieve a higher purpose in life, the subject instead witnesses their own deteriorating mental posture. As a means of overcoming assumed existential risk (the hurdles of our great filter), the subject looks above and within believing that they alone have been chosen to solve the problems that our species faces. Images of Eva Szasz’ 1968 short film ‘Cosmic Zoom’, produced by the National Film Board of Canada were cast over foliage to make for fitting imagery, complementing the narrative.”
Since their formation in 2016, YDR have developed their bombastic approach to psychedelia by releasing two EPs – working with Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and Braids’ Austen Tufts and Taylor Smith – as well as a music video for the piece, The Moral Compass Of A Self-Driving Car. More recently, the three-piece released a split 7” via Mothland, featuring legendary Japanese experimental titans, Acid Mothers Temple, and the single Marché Pt. 3 (Ft. Jasmine Trails), found on the ‘Sounds From Mothland Volume I’ mixtape.
Live, Yoo Doo Right are straight-up loud, bold and assertive, laying on the boom with moxie, enveloping the audience in a brazen cloak-like musical fabric as the outside world disappears. Songs are played with a purpose, sets are built with an intent to unify, and expression takes on an intricate psychedelic form. Over the years, YDR have toured all of Canada and the United States, playing festivals such as Austin’s Levitation Psych Fest, M for Montreal, Sled Island and Pop Montreal along the way. In 2018, they embarked on an epic journey, taking on main support duties for Acid Mothers Temple’s North American tour, adding to the list of international bands they have shared the stage with that also includes DIIV, A Place to Bury Strangers, Wooden Shjips, Kikagaku Moyo, FACS, Frigs and Jessica Moss, amongst others.
‘Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose’ album details
In 2019, Yoo Doo Right retreated to the studio to work on a debut album. Recorded between Montreal and Quebec City, ‘Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose’ proved another rewarding challenge for the three-piece, again aiming for new sonic horizons and pushing the krautrock, shoegaze and post-rock genres towards their ill-defined, proverbial “limits”.
The production spanned several weeks, harnessing the band’s vision alongside engineers Sebastien Fournier (Avec Le Soleil Sortant De Sa Bouche, Panopticon Eyelids, No Negative) at Hotel2Tango and Guillaume Chiasson (Ponctuation, Jesuslesfilles, Double Date With Death) at Le Pantoum, with Harris Newman (Wolf Parade, A Silver Mt. Zion, We Are Wolves) taking on mastering duties again. Part interstellar ear-worms, part sonic experimentations, their upcoming opus sees the trio relentlessly chase, and successfully capture, the very essence of their art, resulting in layered tracks ranging from mechanical krautrock to audacious space rock.
‘Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose’ LP, to be released on May 21, 2021 via Mothland, should absolutely please fans of Can, My Bloody Valentine and Metz, while also striking a chord with eclectic music aficionados who enjoy artists like Do Make Say Think, Beak> or Thee Oh Sees.
‘Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose’ track listing
1. A Certain Sense Of Disenchantment
2. 1N914
3. Marché Dis Vivants
4. The Moral Compass Of A Self-Driving Car
5. Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose
6. Join, Be Curst
7. Presto Presto, Bella’s Dream
8. Black Moth
Pre-order ‘Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose’ here.
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