While nearly everything that's been released on Dandy Boy Records in the last few years has been worth a listen, the records featuring Yea-Ming Chen have been especially delightful. Last year saw the musician offering up superb indie pop via Ryli, a sort of super-group of the label, while this year we have the first new Yea-Ming Chen and the Rumours album since 2024's fine offering.
Residue charms quickly. "Sweet Opiate" sways with a languid Saint Etienne-y vibe, while opener "Paper Doll" recalls mid-Nineties gems from Yo La Tengo. The wistful "Uncommon Dreaming" is down-tempo and moody in the right ways, while "Waist" offers both twangy guitars and a gorgeous vocal performance from Yea-ming. It's a relatively simple composition, but one which is warm and emotive in the right ways.
So many numbers here make me think of Georgia Hubley-sung Yo La Tengo ones that a reviewer might be forgiven for leaning on that comparison a little bit. Still, Yea-Ming Chen has, through a string of great records the last three years, been carving out a space as a real artist to treasure in the American indie genre.
More than her last record, Residue works up a mood and sticks with it. There's not a lot of variety in styles here, but the album does still please enormously. These Yea-Ming Chen songs are languid charmers, for the most part, with lovely vocals and elegant arrangements. Fans of Damon and Naomi, for example, will find a lot of this long-player right up their alley. If Yea-Ming Chen is going to do more upbeat stuff with Ryli, and more introspective tunes on her own, that's fine because these are quietly beautfiul songs here on Residue.
Residue by Yea-Ming and the Rumours is out this week via Dandy Boy Records.
[Photo: Yoshi Tabar]