Yello "Time Lab" 2026

As promised in one of my previous posts, a few words about Yello's new album.

In short: it's a masterpiece.

An astonishing blend of recognizable samples and the new possibilities of modern electronics. All the sounds are woven together with remarkable organic ease, with no pressure on the listener whatsoever. As Andrey Sokolyansky put it to me, this is "sound cuisine of the highest order." And I agree with him.

The album consists of 14 full-fledged tracks, and there isn't a single filler among them. Each one carries an interesting idea and a musical twist that sets it apart from the rest. And yet all of them follow some secret canons of Boris Blank's — the very ones that keep Yello's music and sound inimitable. As for Dieter Meier, in his lyrics he simply remains himself, and that's quite enough: his quirky humour has long been as much a trademark of the band as Blank's knack for coaxing sounds out of anything and combining them.

It's also the duo's first album available in Dolby Atmos from day one. I don't know whether there are plans to adapt the band's earlier work to this format, but adding a third dimension to the familiar flat stereo landscape has given the album incredible depth and crystal clarity.

The album runs for almost an hour. And for the first time since the start of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine and all the changes it has brought to our lives, we listened to an album from start to finish — not as background to everyday routines, but attentively: without interruption, without making a sound, completely immersed in this remarkable work.