Posted on March 7, 2009 - by Halina Rifai

Y’all Is Fantasy Island

I have been a dedicated fan of YIFI for about 4 years now. They pullulate my life with an infectious sound that takes me back to a time when bands like Nirvana changed the way we thought about music.

I pray that each time I listen to YIFI their music has swarmed into many more peoples lives like a creeping and tenacious cloud of sonic precipitation. If more people took the time to listen to this band they would realise that artists like this could teach them something.

‘With Handclaps’ was one of the first tracks that I heard. Its rawness is reminiscent of that early 90′s sound that I was referring to previously. Yes, music derives and moves with time but sometimes you love to be taken back to a time that you felt safe, elated and part of something special. ‘With Handclaps’ does exactly that, its grunge like feel and distortion combined with the faultless vocals of Adam Stafford make this a stand out track. The layering of parts seeps in gradually like rivers flowing to a sea until you are drowning in waves of infinite resonance.

‘Stones, Flesh and Stars’ is something of an opposite and that is why I dearly love this band. They surprise me all the time by somehow taking you under their wing of assurance and then turning on you musically. For listeners and fans this is what we crave more than anything else. ‘Stones, Flesh and Stars’ is lyrically a very harsh storytelling. It is a frank account of ones life that stops you in your sanguine tracks and seizes your attention. The marriage of this story, the most beautifully sad violin passages and acoustic guitar would make even the most polar heart flux.

I love this band. I always have and always will. I recognise something in them that makes me write like this. They make me want to enter a war for them, a war in which I will never raise my white flag.

www.myspace.com/yifimusic

Y’all Is Fantasy Island – High Hopes Lost Love

Waiting for our sight:

• What Will Replace MTV? (15)
• Our last year of independent? (7)
• Indie O’Clock: Tiny Tide and Nothing Meets All (7)
• Funny Little Bunny (6)
• Christmas Indie Ep from Japan (6)