Yves Tumor

From T.E.A.M.S. to Yves Tumor

Yves Tumor grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee and taught themself instruments before moving west and, later, to Europe. In the early 2010s the music appeared as T.E.A.M.S., which AllMusic calls post-chillwave. That name was retired in 2014. Around 2012 Tumor met the rapper Mykki Blanco and toured with them for about two and a half years across Europe and Asia.

The Yves Tumor project began in 2015 with the self-released When Man Fails You. Serpent Music followed on PAN on September 22, 2016, recorded over three years in several cities; in a Dazed interview that week Tumor named Throbbing Gristle as an influence and said: "I like setting moods." A free compilation, Experiencing the Deposit of Faith, came in September 2017, and the move to Warp was announced the same year.

Warp and the band

Safe in the Hands of Love appeared by surprise on September 5, 2018 and drew Metacritic's 89 from nine reviews; Pitchfork gave it a 9.1 and placed it tenth among its albums of the year, and it won best dance or electronic record at the 2019 Libera Awards. Heaven to a Tortured Mind followed on April 3, 2020, and AllMusic's Heather Phares gave it five stars, writing that Tumor consistently outdoes themself. The Guardian made it Album of the Week and Pitchfork put it seventh for the year.

A live band formed around 2019, with Chris Greatti and Yves Rothman among the collaborators; the EP The Asymptotical World came in July 2021 and Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) on March 17, 2023, a record reviewers describe as art rock between alternative rock and R&B. Tumor played Coachella in 2023, put out the mixtape American Idol - The Greatest Notes Chapter 1 in 2024, and in 2025 appeared on tracks by Nina and by Rosalia and Bjork.

Sound

The records mix electronic production with live drums, guitar solos, saxophone and string-like synthesizer, and a voice that moves between a croon and a shout. Early work was compared to Dean Blunt and James Ferraro; the later albums to Prince and David Bowie. Resident Advisor wrote in 2018 that Tumor had joined Arca and SOPHIE at the front of a younger generation's pop.