Album Review: Islas Resonantes

by H. Murray. Published March 14th, 2022.

Have you experienced the magic of Yu Lin Humm? She is impossible to define as an artist. She flows through genre and artistic medium in a way that cannot be contained. Islas Resonantes is her first solo album, composed while traversing the Orinoco River in South America.

In her own words, “Like water, the music of Islas Resonantes is in perpetual movement, carving spaces, softening the hardest stones. Its strength is in its softness.”

The sounds of this album are utterly captivating. It’s hard to believe that it is solo cello – it is so expansive and resonant, drawing you in and bathing you in tone and reverberation. This album is a sound bath. It flows through the listener as part of a journey co-created with Yu Lin. It is a spectacular and uncanny experience. This music is deeply introspective, meditative, still, pulsing, restless, and turbulent. There’s a darkness, but also calm. There’s beauty and sadness. 

I luxuriated in this album like a warm bath for hours. I took it on walks around the city. It colored Los Angeles in completely new hues and experiences. During my yoga practice, I listened and breathed into the cello’s resonance. These sounds flavored the meals that I cooked. In every setting, my experience deepened: softened. My heart yearned for these sounds over and over again. It is an extraordinary album. Simple in many ways, yet able to conjure complex listening experiences.

Islas Resonantes is now available for preorder, and I strongly recommend supporting this independent artist and her vision. She has crafted an utterly compelling soundscape and is deserving of our support. You can find it on Bandcamp.

The album’s official launch is on the 31st of March at YuYu, a club in Mexico City. Yu Lin will be touring in Mexico and Europe over the following months and will play in all kinds of settings but primarily caves and water cisterns or places with a natural resonance - which is the main point of the album. 

 You can learn more about Yu Lin and find concert dates near you on her website https://www.yulinhummstudio.com/news-shows.