Yumi Zouma Announce Album 'No Love Lost To Kindness' And Share Single 'Drag'
Today, international alt-rock innovators Yumi Zouma return with the release of their searing new single "Drag." The track arrives with the announcement of the band's forthcoming fifth studio album, No Love Lost To Kindness, out January 30, 2026, via Nettwerk.
Written in Mexico City between tours, "Drag" finds Yumi Zouma stepping into heavier sonic territory. The track layers grunge-inspired guitars, industrial synth textures, and glitching arpeggios over a slow-building structure that erupts into a massive, cathartic chorus. Beneath the haze, choirs lurk under distortion, heightening the cinematic drama. Lyrically, the song traces frontwoman Christie Simpson's journey of self-discovery following an ADHD diagnosis, balancing grief for lost time with the relief of acceptance. The result is both a farewell to struggle and a bold embrace of a new chapter.
On the sonics, Yumi Zouma shares, "We wanted the song to feel like slowly rotating in sludge and then screaming the most anthemic chorus at the top of your lungs. Hooks from a 1998 issue of Smash Hits are covered with samples and industrial synth arpeggios from the nonexistent soundtrack of the crossover prequel for RoboCop and The Fifth Element, featuring Silverchair, Shihad, Garbage, Stellar*, Evanescence, and Placebo."
Christie Simpson reflects, "For months, I was overwhelmed with grief, joy, frustration, acceptance, relief,and struggle. Things didn't always feel easier post-diagnosis"often harder, even now. This song is a signal to my inner child, and a manifestation of acceptance. It's a goodbye to the life I lived so long 'inside the drag.' It's about releasing myself from the struggle"about letting go."
WATCH & SHARE: YUMI ZOUMA "DRAG"
Directed by Yumi Zouma and longtime collaborator and cinematographer Julian Vares, the "Drag" video leans into the aesthetics of late '90s and early 2000s action cinema and hacker culture. The band explains, "There's something about the action movies of our youth"The Bourne Identity, Swordfish, Hackers, Enemy of the State"where digitalisation was exploding, and cell phones like the Nokia 8110 were cinematic icons. We loved how these films romanticised data infrastructures and 'the mainframe.'"
To capture this aesthetic, the video was shot across three cameras"a Mini-DV (2001), a Sony CyberShot (2005), and a 4K FX6 (2022)"with much of the glitching created by physically damaging tapes and shaking the cameras. The narrative follows band member Josh Burgess as a trenchcoat-clad espionage agent infiltrating the Christie Command Control Center (CCCC), where Christie plays a dystopian overlord trapped in a digital mainframe. After a dramatic tunnel car crash, resurrection, and a hack-fueled reunion, the pair smash the system from the inside out. The entire screen glitches out before the end title hits, and the audience is made to feel like they've watched the music video for the official song of the movie DRAG.
Yumi Zouma's new album, No Love Lost To Kindness, was recorded in Mexico City, where the band was assembled in 2023 for writing sessions. As a collective and individual player, the band's evolution shines across the album's 12 tracks, which guitarists Josh Burgess and Charlie Ryder produced. As Yumi Zouma continues to evolve and celebrate over a decade together, their latest songs show what any long-distance band knows is true: time-zone challenges are simply no match for chemistry.
PRESAVE: YUMI ZOUMA NO LOVE LOST TO KINDNESS
No Love Lost To Kindness marks a turning point for Yumi Zouma"both sonically and emotionally. Departing from the shimmering dream-pop of earlier records, Yumi Zouma pursued a rawer, heavier sound.
The band reflects, "Making our fifth album was the most friction-filled creative period since the band began. We booked studio time throughout the year, came together, scattered, mixed, repeated. The studio gave us songs we loved, but the in-between moments were tense"anxiously avoiding each other, bold last-minute changes, impossible time zones. This album carries all of that.
We pushed away from soft guitars and bedroom-pop textures, smashing at the edges and adding concrete and gravel. Each song carries intensity"sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, but always raw. Lyrically, it's our most honest by a country mile. A wider spectrum of emotion, storytelling, and true feeling. Falling in love, losing love, joy, fear, anxiety, frustration, breakups"it's messy, but it's the truth."
"Drag" follows up on the success of previous 2025 singles "Cross My Heart and Hope To Die," "Blister," and "Bashville on the Sugar," the band's unruly first single on Nettwerk, which introduced this fearless new chapter ahead. Stay tuned for more new music and news from Yumi Zouma this year and beyond.
No Love To Kindness Tracklist:
1. 95
2. Bashville On The Sugar
3. Blister
4. Chicago 2AM
5. Cowboy Without A Clue
6. Cross My Heart and Hope To Die
7. Did You See Her?
8. Drag
9. Every False Embrace
10. Judgement Day
11. Phoebe's Song
12. Waiting For The Cards To Fall
Written in Mexico City between tours, "Drag" finds Yumi Zouma stepping into heavier sonic territory. The track layers grunge-inspired guitars, industrial synth textures, and glitching arpeggios over a slow-building structure that erupts into a massive, cathartic chorus. Beneath the haze, choirs lurk under distortion, heightening the cinematic drama. Lyrically, the song traces frontwoman Christie Simpson's journey of self-discovery following an ADHD diagnosis, balancing grief for lost time with the relief of acceptance. The result is both a farewell to struggle and a bold embrace of a new chapter.
On the sonics, Yumi Zouma shares, "We wanted the song to feel like slowly rotating in sludge and then screaming the most anthemic chorus at the top of your lungs. Hooks from a 1998 issue of Smash Hits are covered with samples and industrial synth arpeggios from the nonexistent soundtrack of the crossover prequel for RoboCop and The Fifth Element, featuring Silverchair, Shihad, Garbage, Stellar*, Evanescence, and Placebo."
Christie Simpson reflects, "For months, I was overwhelmed with grief, joy, frustration, acceptance, relief,and struggle. Things didn't always feel easier post-diagnosis"often harder, even now. This song is a signal to my inner child, and a manifestation of acceptance. It's a goodbye to the life I lived so long 'inside the drag.' It's about releasing myself from the struggle"about letting go."
WATCH & SHARE: YUMI ZOUMA "DRAG"
Directed by Yumi Zouma and longtime collaborator and cinematographer Julian Vares, the "Drag" video leans into the aesthetics of late '90s and early 2000s action cinema and hacker culture. The band explains, "There's something about the action movies of our youth"The Bourne Identity, Swordfish, Hackers, Enemy of the State"where digitalisation was exploding, and cell phones like the Nokia 8110 were cinematic icons. We loved how these films romanticised data infrastructures and 'the mainframe.'"
To capture this aesthetic, the video was shot across three cameras"a Mini-DV (2001), a Sony CyberShot (2005), and a 4K FX6 (2022)"with much of the glitching created by physically damaging tapes and shaking the cameras. The narrative follows band member Josh Burgess as a trenchcoat-clad espionage agent infiltrating the Christie Command Control Center (CCCC), where Christie plays a dystopian overlord trapped in a digital mainframe. After a dramatic tunnel car crash, resurrection, and a hack-fueled reunion, the pair smash the system from the inside out. The entire screen glitches out before the end title hits, and the audience is made to feel like they've watched the music video for the official song of the movie DRAG.
Yumi Zouma's new album, No Love Lost To Kindness, was recorded in Mexico City, where the band was assembled in 2023 for writing sessions. As a collective and individual player, the band's evolution shines across the album's 12 tracks, which guitarists Josh Burgess and Charlie Ryder produced. As Yumi Zouma continues to evolve and celebrate over a decade together, their latest songs show what any long-distance band knows is true: time-zone challenges are simply no match for chemistry.
PRESAVE: YUMI ZOUMA NO LOVE LOST TO KINDNESS
No Love Lost To Kindness marks a turning point for Yumi Zouma"both sonically and emotionally. Departing from the shimmering dream-pop of earlier records, Yumi Zouma pursued a rawer, heavier sound.
The band reflects, "Making our fifth album was the most friction-filled creative period since the band began. We booked studio time throughout the year, came together, scattered, mixed, repeated. The studio gave us songs we loved, but the in-between moments were tense"anxiously avoiding each other, bold last-minute changes, impossible time zones. This album carries all of that.
We pushed away from soft guitars and bedroom-pop textures, smashing at the edges and adding concrete and gravel. Each song carries intensity"sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, but always raw. Lyrically, it's our most honest by a country mile. A wider spectrum of emotion, storytelling, and true feeling. Falling in love, losing love, joy, fear, anxiety, frustration, breakups"it's messy, but it's the truth."
"Drag" follows up on the success of previous 2025 singles "Cross My Heart and Hope To Die," "Blister," and "Bashville on the Sugar," the band's unruly first single on Nettwerk, which introduced this fearless new chapter ahead. Stay tuned for more new music and news from Yumi Zouma this year and beyond.
No Love To Kindness Tracklist:
1. 95
2. Bashville On The Sugar
3. Blister
4. Chicago 2AM
5. Cowboy Without A Clue
6. Cross My Heart and Hope To Die
7. Did You See Her?
8. Drag
9. Every False Embrace
10. Judgement Day
11. Phoebe's Song
12. Waiting For The Cards To Fall
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