With Humboldt, Yôkaï have undoubtedly produced their most accomplished work to date. The band’s third studio album continues their exploration of a unique musical language where jazz, psychedelia, dub, experimental rock and cinematic soundscapes intersect.

Following a series of concerts centred on their previous album Coup de Grâce, 2024 marks a turning point. Now streamlined to a core of six musicians, the band has opted for a more instinctive and pared-back approach. Gathering at various residencies and creative spaces, the members of Yôkaï developed new musical material through improvisation, allowing structures, motifs and atmospheres to emerge naturally before gradually taking shape as compositions.

The result is an album that is both immediate and expansive. Recorded in September 2024 at Capitane Records’ Free House in Brussels, then mixed by Pieterjan Coppejans at Robot Studio in Ghent and mastered by Matt Colton at the legendary Metropolis Studios in London, Humboldt captures a band shedding the superfluous whilst further broadening its sonic horizons.

Whereas Coup de Grâce often unfolded its soundscapes like a long-form cinematic narrative, Humboldt moves forward with greater tension, momentum and energy. Dub-infused rhythms, analogue synthesisers, cutting guitars and hypnotic grooves interplay in a subtle balance between raw energy and cosmic drift.

The album showcases the distinctive sounds of Alex Gilain on the Rogue Bass Moog and baritone guitar; Yannick Dupont on drums and synthesisers; Eric Bribosia on keyboards and the Crumar organ, whose contributions lend an almost cinematic tension; and Jordi Grognard on tenor saxophone, clarinets, the flute and the EWI. Alongside guitarists Clément Nourry and Ivan Tirtiaux, they collectively craft instrumental narratives that are as adventurous as they are evocative.

Far removed from the ethio-jazz influences that characterised his early days a decade ago, Yôkaï now operates in a territory that is entirely his own. A space where textures inherited from 1980s library music meet a resolutely contemporary sensibility, where the groove becomes a narrative driving force and where each piece seems to open up onto a parallel world.

These compositions evoke uncertain futures, fragmented realities and landscapes that are at times dystopian. Yet, despite the shadows that run through the album, humanity remains at the heart of the narrative.

The track ‘Humboldt’ itself carries multiple meanings. In particular, it refers to the Humboldt Glacier in Venezuela, one of the planet’s last tropical glaciers, now doomed to disappear. This subtle reference echoes the themes of transformation, fragility and uncertainty that run through the album. Yet far from fatalism, the record ends on a bright note, hinting at the possibility of a future that remains open.

The artwork, designed by the graphic design studio Überknackig, extends this reflection. Its deliberately glitchy aesthetic reflects a world in constant flux and offers a new gateway into the band’s mysterious universe.

With Humboldt, Yôkaï continue on their unique path whilst refining an instantly recognisable sonic identity. Their blend of rock, jazz, psychedelia and cosmic explorations evokes both the vision of Jon Hassell and the adventurous spirit associated with the International Anthem label. More than just a collection of instrumental compositions, Humboldt offers an immersion into a coherent, sensitive and deeply contemporary universe – a possible soundtrack for our times, with all their dizzying heights, uncertainties and promises.