The Yagas Debut Album Out April 25th
The Yagas, the newly formed alt rock band fronted by Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress Vera Farmiga, to chat about coverage for the band’s debut full-length album. The New York-based independent quintet – also featuring Renn Hawkey (keys), Jason Bowman (drums), Mark Visconti (guitar) and Mike Davis (bass) – will release Midnight Minuet independently on Friday, April 25th
The Yagas introduced their elaborate sonic world last fall with their powerful debut single “The Crying Room,” which also serves as Midnight Minuet’s explosive opener. Paired with a darkly enchanting video co-starring Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hütz, the primally cathartic track was partly inspired by the horrors endured by Farmiga’s extended family since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. PRESS HERE to watch. On “She’s Walking Down,” The Yagas take the listener through a brutal but exhilarating tale of violence and vengeance. The track’s hauntingly beautiful music video marks the first piece of art directed by Farmiga in 15 years. PRESS HERE to watch. Newest single “Life Of A Widow” (just released March 27) is an explosive yet luminous portrait of anticipatory grief; a song of searing lament.
The first song penned by The Yagas is the gloriously frenzied epic called “I Am,” which immediately catalyzed the spirit of creative abandon that would come to define all the band’s output. Throughout the 10-song collection – mixed by GRAMMY® nominee Brian Virtue (Deftones, 30 Seconds to Mars) and mastered by GRAMMY® winner Emily Lazar (Beck, Coldplay) – The Yagas adorn even the darkest moments with unexpected bursts of ineffable beauty and, in sharing their debut body of work with the world, aim to further their namesake’s legacy in their own ultimately benevolent way.
An audacious band with otherworldly origins, The Yagas borrowed their name from the mystical Slavic folklore figure Baba Yaga, believed to devour the souls of the newly deceased to safeguard the fountains of life. The five-piece wholly share their namesake’s storied penchant for shapeshifting, morphing from metal to industrial to wildly extravagant alt-rock as their songs journey into the strangest depths of the human psyche. As shown on Midnight Minuet, The Yagas embody a potent duality of shadow and light, ferocity and tenderness.
About The Yagas:
Formed in 2023, The Yagas took shape soon after Farmiga and Hawkey enrolled their son and daughter at Rock Academy (a Woodstock-based music school run by Bowman and also attended by Visconti and Davis’ children). After playing together in the school’s adult program and discovering an undeniable musical chemistry, the five parents began collaborating on original material. Not only an echo of their music’s emotional complexity, The Yagas’ similarly wondrous multidimensionality has much to do with Farmiga and Hawkey’s divergent musical backgrounds. When matched with the restlessly inventive yet highly sophisticated musicality of Visconti, Davis, and Bowman – all lifelong musicians with decades of experience and an affinity for genre-bending experimentation – the result is a truly singular aural experience, endlessly unpredictable but infinitely propelled by the spellbinding force of Farmiga’s vocal work. The Yagas music has received early comparisons to A Perfect Circle, The Cure, and Type O Negative and amassed over 3 million collective streams/views, with praise and support from Revolver Magazine, Metal Hammer, NME, Classic Rock Magazine, The Noise/Ones To Watch, Stereogum, Bloody Disgusting, Rock Cellar Magazine, more. Follow The Yagas: Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Spotify // Apple Music
