Yello turn their sound archive into Time Lab
The Zurich duo’s fifteenth studio album combines new production with unused material, including a vocal recording originally intended for Claro Que Si.
Yello released Time Lab on 30 October. The fifteenth studio album by Dieter Meier and Boris Blank uses material from their own archive as a starting point for new production.
The clearest example is Around the Sun. Meier’s vocal recording was originally intended for Claro Que Si in 1981 but was left off the album. Blank has built a new musical setting around it. The project draws on accumulated fragments, riffs and sketches alongside fresh samples rather than simply presenting an untouched collection of outtakes.
The tracklist also includes You and Me and Beautiful You, both featuring Heidi Happy, and Dancing Flame with Malia. The official shop lists the album on double vinyl, CD and Blu-ray Audio. SRF’s coverage places the release in the continuing work of the Zurich electronic duo.
SCENE:ID’s view: the useful question here is what an electronic musician’s archive can become. A saved voice or unfinished idea need not belong only to a retrospective. Time Lab makes that process of returning to old material part of a new album’s identity.