YATTA’sPALM WINEis the product of years of travel, reckoning, solitude, and troubling love alchemized into a joyful return to home, God, and clarity of mind.
Recorded in London, LA, Houston, and NYC over the course of a transient, winding, and introspective five years,PALM WINEfollows YATTA’s critically-acclaimed poetry album,WAHALA(2019).
PALM WINE, the album’s title, is at once a play on the traditional West African drink, the musical genre of the same name, and the folk music project, Iron & Wine.
Through their research, YATTA learnedthat S.E. Rogie, a pioneer of the genre, was their granduncle.
While PALM WINE is not a palm wine album in the conventional sense, it takes inspiration from the genre’s storytelling, lilting vocals, and slant towards levity, ease, and play.
A departure from the poetic noise of YATTA’s previous releases,PALM WINE sustains an experimental spirit while delivering something entirely new, expansive, and more pop-leaning.
Speaking about WAHALA, their previous release, YATTA quoted Maya Angelou:“She [Angelou] says to keep a room in your heart just for god. My room is full of rage, questions, confusion, and pain—I’m trying to get it clean and pristine, baby!”