In the video for Yves Tumor's latest single "Secrecy Is Incredibly Important to the Both of Them," the visionary singer plays several roles, ranging from a trapped and panicked punk rocker to a sleek businessperson, writhing and bloody in a spotlight.
Maybe these depictions are pieces of a greater narrative, or perhaps they're references to the many hats that Sean Bowie, the brains behind Yves Tumor, has worn throughout the years. From breaking new ground in the cold wave scene in the early 2010s under the alias Teams to producing under the name Shanti for Ecco2k and Bladee, Bowie has evolved as a once-in-a-generation artist. Since Yves Tumor debuted in 2015, their upward trajectory has been slow and steady, so the genre-fluid singer's recent surge in popularity feels earned, although fans who cry "underrated" still have reason to do so.
Owing to Bowie's past as a vaporwave supernova, Yves Tumor's 2021 EP The Asymptotical World feels like a surreal celebration of glam rock and post-punk through an Afrofuturistic lens. While comparisons to David Bowie will be made — painfully and obviously so — Yves Tumor has straight up name-dropped Throbbing Gristle as a major influence, which makes all the sense. Consider this show an intimate night with a musical act that will be playing on an exponentially bigger stage when, or if, they return to St. Louis.
See You In the Streets: To dive way down the wormhole of Sean Bowie and their many contemporaries and past collaborators, hit up the r/sadboys subreddit and start digging through those threads like old record store crates.
Yves Tumor 8 p.m. Friday, March 25. Old Rock House, 1200 South Seventh Street. $25 to $30. 314-588-0505.
