Filipino-American singer Yeek has released his new album ‘Valencia’.
The album is his first proper release following his 2019 ‘EP IDK WHERE’, which Highsnobiety said “manages to effortlessly showcase his unique sound,” and is his most sonically lush and polished work to date. The record features mixing from Jeff Ellis, who has previously worked with Frank Ocean, Snoh Aalegra, and Omar Apollo, and focuses on themes of relationship woes and keeping family close.
‘Valencia’ is also accompanied by a short film Yeek made for the project that premiered at a drive-in screening in Santa Monica yesterday. Selling out in just minutes, ‘h.a.w.a.i.i.’ tells the story of a young boy (played by Yeekβs cousin) whose routine is controlled entirely by the sophisticated technology built into the house. What he wears, what he eatsβevery detail is accounted for and he isnβt given a choice. Until he decides to push back and forge his own path. Scored by Yeek, itβs a reflection of his own relationship to life expectations and striking the right balance between independence and collaboration.
His most emotionally lush and polished material to date, Valencia is a deep, ambitious body of work that, along with its short film, invites serious engagement to explore and unpack. It cements Yeek as a generational talent with something to say, a leader who isnβt afraid of his vulnerabilities.
For years, Yeek preferred to work alone. Across two albums and two EPs, the L.A.-based singer-songwriter handled producing, recording, mixing, and mastering by himself. Because his songs are personal and resistant to genre classification, this method suited him. The DIY approach made sense for his evocative, guitar-driven portraits of youthful wandering and wondering. Singing about sitting alone in his room on βOnly in the West,β bummed because he has to board the bus while his drug-dealer friends are out driving cars β quintessential solo dolo music.
But now, this is not the case. This year, Yeek presents ‘Valencia’, his most emotionally lush and polished work to date, and his most collaborative too. Featuring production from his cousin, Kevin Halasan, and a smooth mix from Jeff Ellis, the engineer who has worked with Frank Ocean, Snoh Aalegra, and Omar Apollo, Valencia is indebted to the vitality of family, close friends, and new romance. After strengthening his voice on tour and with a vocal coach, Yeekβs performances on ‘Valencia’ are confident and vulnerable, shaded heavily by the R&B records he heard growing up during family karaoke. βR&B music is a deeply-rooted part of Filipino-American culture,β he says.
Born in New Jersey, Yeek spent his first decade living in a large Filipino community. Then he moved to South Florida, where he wasnβt just the new kid in town but one of the only Asian people outside his family. Bonding with kids who wanted to make music, he found a place for himself by joining punk and hardcore bands and rapping.
All this music touched his own, making for a sound that is totally contemporary and genre agnostic but still grounded in what can be done in a bedroom with a microphone and some instruments. Though Yeek produced nearly all of ‘Valencia’, its ten songs are powered by community. βWhole gang gotta eat,β he sings on the title track, and he means it. After coming off his first headlining tour in Europe in 2019, he decided to recommit to working with the people closest to him. βMy priority is putting on the people Iβve grown up with,β Yeek says. βI feel that better art comes from working with family and friends. Otherwise, itβs making art via email.β
The album’s first track is βLumbago,β a mellow ode to family via memories of the back pain Yeek experienced as a young boy. His mom, his brothers, his cousinβtheyβre all embedded in the lyrics, sung over a slow bass riff, methodical drums, and a dreamy ever-present organ.
The flipside of working with your loved ones is an increased sense of pressure and responsibility, feelings Yeek explores on βOverthinking.β A propulsive, almost nervous bassline plays under his voice as he captures that sensation of watching your people laugh and have fun while youβre on the outside looking in, stuck in your head, running down your anxieties.
β3000 Miles (Baby Baby)β announces the albumβs other big driving force: new love. More than any of Yeekβs other projects, ‘Valencia’ is an R&B recordβheβs really singing this time around. Thereβs no genre better equipped to channel the energy of a new relationship in all its complexity, from the lusty highs to the confusing late-night lows. Buoyant with anticipation, β3000 Miles (Baby Baby)β mimics the singular ache of a long-distance relationship, when all you want to do is race to the airport and get on a flight in order to touch that person you canβt stop thinking about. βHowβd you feel if I came through late at night, 3000 miles?β he asks on the chorus, over the biggest drums on the album. Itβs the embodiment of yearning.
With its themes of relationship woes and keeping family close, ‘Valencia’ is a deep, ambitious body of work that, along with its short film, invites serious engagement to explore and unpack. It cements Yeek as a generational talent with something to say, a leader who isnβt afraid of his vulnerabilities.
In a full-circle moment for Yeek, he was recently interviewed on ABS-CBN in the Philippines, where his grandfather served as one of the main anchors for ABS-CBN’s “The World Tonight” (which premiered in 1962), as well as the former news director for the channel.
Cover photo: Julian BurgueΓ±o
