Brighton-made trio, YONAKA, fuses genres like pop, punk, and hip-hop to create their unique and electrifying sound in the alternative rock genre they find themselves grouped into, all though they wouldn’t say they are traditional rockstars. First meeting in the university, the trio’s music delves into themes of empowerment, and mental health. On July 28, YONAKA released their highly anticipated EP Welcome to My House.
“There’s a song for every emotion of the EP,” according to lead singer Theresa Jarvis. “Ones you can cry to and some you can rage to. It’s a rollercoaster and it’s quite funny.” The theme of mental health is quite accidental somehow. Jarvis claims she doesn’t try to write songs about mental health, but if she’s feeling strong emotions, then that’s how the song is going to come out. “Mental health is a journey that never ends. For empowerment when you’re feeling good, you just want to tell the whole world.”
Welcome to My House changes emotion and mood with each song, representing the neverending, always-changing journey of the human self. It differs from Seize the Power as every song exemplifies how Jarvis’s brain works. She is the “house” and the EP is like an invite to see how that house works, instead of just being guests who pass by. “Once you start writing again after a release, you have to shrug off the new music, because you still try to write like that.”
The Welcome to My House EP wasn’t a hard one to deliver to the fans. Bassist, Alex Crosby knows “we’ve always done a lot of genres, so our fans don’t expect the same things. It would be different if we stuck to one genre.” The group does not believe that they’re part of any music scene, and even if they wanted to, their music is a big amalgamation of other music genres. Instead, they appeal to each member of the band instead. YONAKA’s music has seen growth over the years they have been a band. “We have this kind of freedom to play around with loads of different sounds. From writing, now you have a sense that it’s really good.”
Jarvis believes that the lyrics she wrote for the EP were some of the best lyrics she’s ever written. “I talk about myself, my flaws, and my coping mechanisms, all in a negative way.” But sometimes she refers to herself as nature. “I like referencing myself to those things.” Give Me My Halo, which came out in the EP’s pre-release single, a song they didn’t anticipate releasing at first, is the idea of breaking out negative emotions. “I feel like people feed off misfortune sometimes… like if you tell them bad news, they’ll be so interested.”
Despite not being Brighton natives, the city plays a huge part in their musical identity. To them, Brighton was the huge tapestry bursting to life with the music and vibrance of the human soul. “Every person had a guitar. The university was s**t, but it was the perfect for meeting to community.” To their guitarist George Werbrouch-Edwards, Brighton was like “being dropped into the ocean– unexpected. I was exposed to everything.” To Crosby, Brighton was like a safe haven. “Someone spat on me because I had long hair in my old town. Brighton was really welcoming and vibrant and opened a new world of possibility for me.”
Armed with nothing but a shot of tequila, push-ups, and repetitive prayers, YONAKA would become ready to take the stage. Werbrouch-Edwards hopes they can soon do another headline tour to give something new to the fans. They hope the fans can once again expect community and unique messages from their songs. The Discord server for YONAKA fans is regularly active, with fans talking about music together and even becoming friends that go to shows with each other.
It’s clear that we have been welcomed into YONAKA’s house. Listen to YONAKA’s EP wherever you get your music!
Moonbow Magazine 