Yellow Days brings soulful psych-pop to Gorilla

On Sun 10 May, genre-blurring psych-funk pioneer Yellow Days heads to Gorilla for a headline show that captures the unbound creative spirit of one of the UK’s most distinctive young artists.

The project of Surrey-born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist George van den Broek, Yellow Days first gained global traction with the hazy, kaleidoscopic soul of his 2016 debut EP Harmless Melodies, which introduced his tremulous falsetto, woozy grooves and lo-fi bedroom production to a fast-growing international audience.

Subsequent releases have seen van den Broek meld genres and explore the outer limits of sonic experimentation, from the sprawling pop fusion of his debut album A Day In A Yellow Beat to the ambitious sci-fi conceptualism of 2024’s Hotel Heaven, his musical identity shaped by soul, funk, jazz and psychedelic pop while continuously anchored by his freewheeling lyricism.

His latest record, Rock And A Hard Place, sees Yellow Days return to the influences at the genesis of his career, playing with sound in his parents’ garden shed as a wide-eyed 16-year-old.

Recored in just four days with a live band, the album again draws on classic soul and funk influences while foregrounding van den Broek’s vocals and musicianship with a sharper, revitalised clarity.

Of the album, van den Broek said:

“It’s a return to innocence…as a teenager I didn’t know what I wanted to do, musically. As time goes by, you lose a bit of passion and edge. It’s easy to get carried away. I’ve been like a disobedient dog that needed training (laughs). I see this as the first adult album I’ve ever done.

“This feels like the first time I’ve done what I should be doing. Which is putting the focus on the singing, the playing and the songwriting.

“There’s a definite masculinity to this record…not in an Andrew Tate way. Singers like Ray Charles, Otis Redding and Muddy Waters had this visceral quality. There’s strength in being able to show vulnerability.”

Book tickets below.