Artist
Yates
Singer/songwriter Benjamin Jacob Yates, better known as YATES, continues to offer his own distinct pop music, one that is both evocative and deliberate. YATES explores what it means to come from being a bedroom musician from Griffith, New South Wales, Australia, to a full-time solo artist in Berlin, Germany.
“As a kid I dreamt of representing my country at the Olympics; I got as far as representing Australia in Japan at the 2005 Junior Triathlon World Championships where I raced professionally in China and throughout Europe. I extended my stay back in 2008 during my second season in Germany and that’s how I got wrapped up into doing music all of these years. I made the move to Berlin at the end of 2014 to start focusing on this solo project.”
YATES began turning heads in 2014 with a number of self-released tracks which showcased a diversity of genres, live instrumentation, electronic elements and most importantly, his radiantly soothing vocals. This introduction gained radio support from leading tastemakers KCRW (USA) and Triple J (Australia) and lead to collaborations with Booka Shade, Monkey Safari, Nina Jirachi, Kilter, Love Thy Brother, Running Touch, and Plastic Plates. YATES has since signed with the reputable Australian Indie label Sweat it Out.
“I think I’ve gained massive amounts of perspective but at the same time Berlin has complicated my life. Being over here allowed me to run wild and I’ve had to make so many decisions on my own. Both always being in survival mode and trying to fit in has connected me with all types of people which I focus my writing on. Each day has really felt like living in the moment. I guess, that’s how I came up with the name for my current home here in Berlin, ’Holiday Apartment’.”
Holiday Apartment was released on September 21st this year and is his second EP release on the Sweat It Out label. The tracks were recorded in Berlin last year together with Rene Corbett and produced by Alexander Burnett in London in March 2018, with YATES really taking into account in how the songs would work in a live context. YATES applies dance music's minimalism to give a newfound sense of texture to his previously chosen soulful pop music.
“In Holiday Apartment,I really wanted to create exactly that world. I’m currently living in a shared 34 square meter apartment in Berlin with a balcony looking over a nice green garden and we don’t have much, but life’s pretty good.”
Yates visualizes the coincidental while emphasizing his own conscious process of composition. The thought processes behind his songwriting, which are quite intimate and unfiltered in their references to his own world, are often revealed through his direct lyricism. With that said, YATES wants his audience to become part of the music, to assign their own meanings.
“Each EP feels like another jigsaw puzzle. Finally getting new music out there is what I’ve been wanting to do for so long now and I’m already into working on more. I’m constantly searching for not necessarily the ideas I can work with but the ones that feel like are me. I imagine myself doing this forever.''
“As a kid I dreamt of representing my country at the Olympics; I got as far as representing Australia in Japan at the 2005 Junior Triathlon World Championships where I raced professionally in China and throughout Europe. I extended my stay back in 2008 during my second season in Germany and that’s how I got wrapped up into doing music all of these years. I made the move to Berlin at the end of 2014 to start focusing on this solo project.”
YATES began turning heads in 2014 with a number of self-released tracks which showcased a diversity of genres, live instrumentation, electronic elements and most importantly, his radiantly soothing vocals. This introduction gained radio support from leading tastemakers KCRW (USA) and Triple J (Australia) and lead to collaborations with Booka Shade, Monkey Safari, Nina Jirachi, Kilter, Love Thy Brother, Running Touch, and Plastic Plates. YATES has since signed with the reputable Australian Indie label Sweat it Out.
“I think I’ve gained massive amounts of perspective but at the same time Berlin has complicated my life. Being over here allowed me to run wild and I’ve had to make so many decisions on my own. Both always being in survival mode and trying to fit in has connected me with all types of people which I focus my writing on. Each day has really felt like living in the moment. I guess, that’s how I came up with the name for my current home here in Berlin, ’Holiday Apartment’.”
Holiday Apartment was released on September 21st this year and is his second EP release on the Sweat It Out label. The tracks were recorded in Berlin last year together with Rene Corbett and produced by Alexander Burnett in London in March 2018, with YATES really taking into account in how the songs would work in a live context. YATES applies dance music's minimalism to give a newfound sense of texture to his previously chosen soulful pop music.
“In Holiday Apartment,I really wanted to create exactly that world. I’m currently living in a shared 34 square meter apartment in Berlin with a balcony looking over a nice green garden and we don’t have much, but life’s pretty good.”
Yates visualizes the coincidental while emphasizing his own conscious process of composition. The thought processes behind his songwriting, which are quite intimate and unfiltered in their references to his own world, are often revealed through his direct lyricism. With that said, YATES wants his audience to become part of the music, to assign their own meanings.
“Each EP feels like another jigsaw puzzle. Finally getting new music out there is what I’ve been wanting to do for so long now and I’m already into working on more. I’m constantly searching for not necessarily the ideas I can work with but the ones that feel like are me. I imagine myself doing this forever.''
