A small town in the Netherlands doesn't seem like the most conducive place to foster a lively underground music scene, yet here we are with YĪN YĪN and their trip worthy second album The Age of Aquarius.
The album is described by the group as the soundtrack to “an entity that travels through space, encountering different planets, aliens, parties and galaxies along the way.” This album is full of funky rhythms and sexy hooks, coupled with pure psychedelica and out of this world electronics and samples from the disco era. As we are taken on YĪN YĪN’s journey, this album unfolds into something more like 'a party bus through space' than just simply "space travel atmospherics."
Further developing from their rocking debut album The Rabbit that Hunts the Tiger, YĪN YĪN dive deeper into the use of electronics to create that ‘otherworldly’ element that is so prevalent on this album. The opening track Satya Yuga (the first and best of the four world stages in Hinduism) is a surreal birth that is only a taster of what is to come. Immediately you are thrown into fully-fledged YĪN YĪN realness with Chong Wang, with its catchy 90’s electro-boogie beat coupled with the band's classic oriental sound - looks like the psychedelic party bus has just pulled up! We take a small break from the party to chill out with all sorts of interesting characters - the glitchy electronica of the more laid back Shēnzou V, to the curious sample driven Faiyadansu, taken from a Japanese koto album, whose drumbeat seems to take hold of your body in a hypnotic fashion. We jump to Nautilus and it’s time to get up and join the disco again before closing the party with Kali Yuga (the fourth and unfortunately worst of the world stages.) Lights dimmed, heads weary, Kali Yuga is the soundtrack on the radio of the space bus as we head back to Earth, feeling exhausted from the trip we’ve just been on.
The Age of Aquarius has a sonorous and rich sound world, presenting a deeper and more developed soundscape from YĪN YĪN, perhaps due to the band's increased use of samples, electronic drums and synths. For a group of five musicians, YĪN YĪN have managed to create a world completely separate to that of our own. It is something you need to hear to believe. © Jessica Porter-Langson / Qobuz