YONAKA Invite Fans into “Their House” with New EP

Brighton, UK alternative outfit YONAKA are poised to hit a new stage of their careers with their most recent EP Welcome to My House, released on July 28 through Lava Records, a work that is as stunning visually as it is equally punchy, emotional, and in-your-face, as they’ve released what is said to be “their most intimate EP to date.” Ahead of the release, Manor 208 was invited to attend a virtual press event held by 1824, where the band went in depth about the making of the EP and its accompanying visual components. 

While the music on Welcome to My House speaks for itself, taking fans on an emotional rollercoaster of ups, downs, mania, calmness, sadness, anger, and acceptance, among many other emotions, one is not fully experiencing the artistry and creativity that YONAKA placed into this piece without also watching the visualizers that were released. The band revealed that they had initially intended to do full visualizers for every track, but not everything came to fruition exactly as planned, so as of writing this piece, 5 of the seven tracks have full videos while the others instead have artsy lyric videos, which look equally badass. 
Each visualizer brings its own additional layers to the song it accompanies, with “By The Time You’re Reading This” centered around the band jamming out in front of a wall covered in lyrics, with some of these also bleeding onto vocalist Theresa Jarvis’ white latex ensemble”. The closing duo of “I Don’t Care” and “Hands Off My Money” both feel more rebellious, with both visualizers centering around only Theresa rather than the full band, which I interpreted as a statement about subverting gender expectations in the alternative genre and in the music industry in general (because women and nonbinary people are still struggling to be seen as equals even though it’s freaking 2023!!); both tracks have a major “fuck the patriarchy” attitude about them that I just love. 

Meanwhile, “Welcome to My House” is more vulnerable, with the band revealing that the video was set up to resemble an AA meeting, intended to represent letting fans into their world and the importance of community. In a world that is seemingly getting darker every minute, depending on what corners of the Internet we’re doom-scrolling through on a given day, it’s more important than ever to talk about mental health and the struggles that come along with maintaining it, a theme that is present throughout the EP. 
The most gut-wrenching track happens to fall right in the middle with “Give Me My Halo”, the third single released off the EP. The track is a building piano ballad that is about “people feeding off of others’ misfortunes”, according to Theresa, and it is simply stunning. I would love to have seen what the band had in mind visually for this track, but I respect that they didn’t want to put out something they weren’t 100% happy with, and the track stands on its own as a highlight of the release. 

During the conference, the band also discussed how self-producing their music has allowed them more freedom to creatively manipulate sounds and blend genres, which is very evident on this EP. As the listener is taken on the sonic rollercoaster that YONAKA have crafted, it’s clear that there is no one genre box for the record or for the band as a whole, with vibes changing rapidly from the anthemic build of “By The Time You’re Reading This” to the “sad girl hours” of “Give Me My Halo” into the punk-inspired riffage and rage that seeps into the last half of the EP. 

YONAKA cannot be labeled or caged; as they welcome more fans into ‘Their House”, the band is preparing to expand that house to as many ears as possible as they discussed hopes of being able to bring their live show to new audiences over the next year and beyond. I have been a relatively recent addition to the YONAKA house, but I can’t wait to see where it grows from here, and I hope anyone reading this will come along for the ride.

The first in the series of visualizers can be viewed below, and stream Welcome to My House everywhere now.