Yumi Zouma

Rendering crystalline indie pop with a delicate touch, Yumi Zouma curate a lingering sense of dreaminess without relying on obscuring effects. Formed in 2014 out of Christchurch, New Zealand, the band developed through remote file-sharing as multiple members traveled or relocated abroad. That unique origin allowed the quartet to fine-tune their own production, while touring with Lorde early on honed their stage presence in equal measure. Yumi Zouma gradually streamlined the dewy electronics of their initial work (see 2018’s pulsing “In Camera”) into a sleeker, more guitar-focused creation, as heard on 2020’s Truth or Consequences. Attention has increasingly been placed on keyboardist Christie Simpson’s poised, ethereal singing, with occasional backing vocals from multi-instrumentalist Josh Burgess. True to its name, the band’s 2022 album Present Tense is immediate and grounded, distilling their heady reveries into reliably compact, catchy tunes.