Photo: Janette Beckman
Renowned and highly sought-after drummer Jharis Yokley has collaborated and played in innumerable projects and bands over his career, from Solange and Chance the Rapper to Ani DiFranco and DJ Premier. As a solo artist, he is gearing up to release the first recording under his own name. Entitled Sometimes, Late At Night, the record captures Yokley’s playful, versatile and energetic approach to music. Inspired by personal experiences, particularly a breakup, Yokley explores themes of love, loss, and self-discovery throughout the album’s 10 tracks. “So, the album’s mainly about this relationship,” he explains. “It’s not like that I regret ending it, but I knew it had to happen. But reminiscing back on those times, I was wondering if I made a mistake.”
BIGYUKI, José James and Taali have all been enlisted as collaborators by Yokley who started writing Sometimes, Late At Night alone in 2020. He elaborates:
“So, obviously in March of 2020, everybody had a lot of free time.” Yokley says. “I was just in my bedroom, on my laptop making a lot of beats at the time. I was using Logic and a lot of my beats were sample-based. I would make beats with the samples and then take away the samples and try to come up with my own lyrics and melodies to these beats. Sometimes it would just be me on the keyboard picking a sound I like, or making a sound that I feel sounds cool. And then just playing around until I find a cool melody.”
A boundary-pushing album that defies categorization, Sometimes, Late At Night is a testament to Yokley’s boundless creativity and diverse musical influences, as he explains:
“I don’t really consider genre, because I love so many different genres. And I’ve played with a bunch of different artists from jazz to hip hop, to folk music, and R&B. So, all that stuff is already ingrained in my mind when I’m creating things. The music I make pulls from all the genres that I listen to and love, automatically. It wasn’t a conscious decision.”
Ahead of the album’s release on May 3rd through Rainbow Blonde Records, Yokley had previously let loose the thrilling and astounding lead single ‘Move On’. Take a listen below.