Hidden Gems • Yomí: 33 Strings EP
Yomí aka Lil Yomí aka That Harpest has been playing the harp for fourteen years. After all that time, and all that training, and all those melodies and harmonies and creations, she has finally put together her very first EP.
That being said, the title "EP" is very relative #thesedays, and at thirteen songs in length, this project is properly fleshed out, about as cohesive as you can get, and is pretty damn close to being an album. Throughout the baker's dozen worth of track, Yomí's harp and her voice are both so strong that every song blends and bleeds into the next so nicely.
Although the EP is thirteen songs in length, the entire project is still short and to the point; at only 22 minutes, it comes and goes very quickly, never staying in one place, and instantly demanding a replay.
33 Strings sounds like a candlelit smoke session far past midnight. This sounds like a rooftop bar in the sky, soundtracking the casual drinkers and the drunks alike. Like a lounge bar entertainer, guiding you through the evening.
Yomí's voice reminds me of CocoRosie, of Portishead, of Bats for Lashes. Daydreams on the moon and inhales of DMT, her drug-infused harp numbers are about as unique as you will get within Chicago. Her lo-fi creations are exactly what the doctor called for on a cold Chicago night when ice covers our winds and snow persists on the bottoms of our boots.
While Yomí doesn't have much else available on her SoundCloud (listen to "my yellow flower"), it is rumored that she has a project with one man band Netherfriends called 808s and Harp Breaks. While that project has no official release date, this folksy, groovy, stripped down and bare, perpetually stoned EP is one to hold you over until it starts to warm up again in the spring.
