Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstays Allah-Las — Matthew Corriea (drums, vocals), Spencer Dunham (bass, guitar, vocals), Miles Michaud (guitar, organ, vocals) and Pedrum Siadatian (guitar, synth, vocals) can their origins to when its members first bonded over psych rock vinyl in the back room at Amoeba Records. And over the course of the past 15 years, the Los Angeles-based quartet have been busy: they’ve developed a reputation for alchemically blending surf rock with folk rock jangle and rock; they’ve built up their lauded music podcast Reverberation Radio; and their record label Calico Discos.
Naturally, a lot has changed throughout the years, and their forthcoming album Zuma 85 reportedly finds the quarter facing a new world with a wealth of new sounds.
The pandemic-induced downtime between 2020-2022 opened up space for the members of the band to focus on their own lives and interests, and the time to re-envision what their creative process could look like and be. When it was safe to reconvene, a sense of looseness proved to be pivotal. Instead of bringing finished songs to the studio, they arrived at Stinson Beach-based Panoramic House with sketches, ideas and riffs.
Working with co-producer Jeremy Harris, the band crafted and shaped the album’s material over the course of three sessions, which were then mixed in Los Angeles by frequent collaborator Jarvis Taveniere. It was clear to the band that the studio’s bucolic environment — observed through picture windows overlooking Stinson Beach and Bolinas Bay — would be conducive to creating Zuma 85‘s material. “We got in real late that first night of the first session,” Allah-Las’ Miles Michaud says. “It was around midnight. We had a quick intro and Jeremy had a bottle of wine. We had a little and he said, ‘You wanna start recording?’”
They wound up recording something. When the group reassembled the following morning to listen to what they recorded, they found the session’s first song “Right On Time” mostly finished. It managed to be unlike anything the band had ever recorded, but it felt entirely natural. “Everything just worked,” Michaud says. “That studio just pulls it out of you.”
Zuma 85 derives its title from a photo of an abandoned by California-based photographer John Divola. Selected by the band’s Matthew Correia, the band’s resident photography fan and graphic designer, the photo juxtaposes a visage of man-man chaos against the natural beauty of the West Coast. It served as a reference point for the album, a symbol for the band’s new era.
Sonically, Zuma 85 reportedly sees the band leaving the familiar territory of their previously released material and embracing newer influences like late-era Lou Reed and John Cale, Peter Ivers, early Brian Eno and Roxy Music, as well as textures borrowed from Japanese pop and loner-folk obscurities. Some of the album’s material touches on komische, others are antehmic and electronic boogie, and there are even prog rock inspired material.
Zuma 85‘s first single, album title track “Zuma 85” is a dreamy composition built around a glistening and looping guitar lines, twinkling percussion, a driving groove powered by relentless four-on-the-floor and atmospheric synth textures paired with an easy-going yet catchy groove. The end result is a trippy take on the komische sound.
The JOVM mainstays will be embarking on a lengthy international tour that features an August 4, 2023 stop at The Rockaway Hotel and a September 11, 2023 stop at Amsterdam’s Paradiso, one of the world’s great music venues. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
Tour Dates
6/15 – 17 – PiP Fest – Oslo, NO
6/16 – Bergenfest (Bergenhus Fortress & Castle) – Bergen, NO
6/17 – Pumpehuset – Copenhagen, DK
6/20 – Slaktkrykan – Stockholm, SE
6/22 – Selección Sonora @ Centro Cultural Ágora – A Coruna, Galicia, ES
6/23 – Dabadaba – Donosti, ES
6/24 – Tomavistas – Madrid, ES
6/25 – Wheels & Waves – Biarritz, FR
6/28 – Zeltival @ Tollhaus – Karlsruhe, DE
8/3 – Levitate – Boston, MA
8/4 – The Rockaway Hotel – Queens, NY
8/30 – Mascotte – Zurich, CH
9/1 – Room 2 – Glasgow, UK
9/2 – Psych Fest – Manchester, UK
9/3 – End Of The Road Festival – Salisbury, UK
9/4 – Marble Factory – Bristol, UK
9/6 – KOKO – London, UK
9/7 – Chalk – Brighton, UK
9/9 – Le Trianon – Paris, FR
9/10 – Cactus – Bruges, BE
9/11 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
9/13 – Huxleys – Berlin, DE
9/14 – Muffathalle – Munich, DE
9/16 – Technopolis – Athens, GR
10/23 – Crescent Room – Phoenix, AZ
10/24 – Launch Pad – Albuquerque, AZ
10/26 – Ferris Wheelers Backyard – Dallas, TX
10/29 – Belly Up – Aspen, CO
10/31 – Metro Music Hall – Salt Lake City, UT
11/1 – Treefort Music Hall, Boise, ID
11/2 – Rev Hall – Portland, OR
11/3 – Freakout – Seattle, WA
11/4 – Volcanic Theatre Pub – Bend, OR
11/6 – Goldfield Trading Post – Sacramento, CA
11/7 – Phoenix Theater – Petaluma, CA
11/8 – SLO Brew – San Luis Obispo, CA
11/15 – Lodge Room – Los Angeles, CA
11/16 – Lodge Room – Los Angeles, CA
11/18 – August Hall – San Francisco, C