Yumi Zouma have returned with fire in their lungs. The New Zealand-born, globally scattered alt-rock outfit dropped their new single “Drag” today (September 12th), a brooding cut that pushes them into heavier sonic territory while announcing their fifth studio album, No Love Lost To Kindness, due January 30th, 2026 via Nettwerk.
No Love Lost To Kindness marks a sharp evolution for Yumi Zouma, trading in the dream-pop shimmer of earlier records for something rawer and more jagged. Recorded in Mexico City with production helmed by Burgess and Charlie Ryder, the 12-track record reflects both the chemistry and tension of a band now more than a decade into their career.
“Making our fifth album was the most friction-filled creative period since the band began,” the group admits. “We booked studio time throughout the year, came together, scattered, mixed, repeated. The studio gave us songs we loved, but the in-between moments were tense — anxiously avoiding each other, bold last-minute changes, impossible time zones. We pushed away from soft guitars and bedroom-pop textures, smashing at the edges and adding concrete and gravel. Each song carries intensity — sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, but always raw. Lyrically, it’s our most honest by a country mile.”
“Drag” follows a run of singles, including “Cross My Heart and Hope To Die”, “Blister”, and April’s “Bashville on the Sugar”, that hinted at this bold new chapter.
Written in Mexico City during a rare break between tours, “Drag” layers grunge-soaked guitars with industrial synths and glitching arpeggios, building slowly before exploding into a towering chorus. Beneath the distortion, ghostly choirs and cinematic textures intensify the drama. Lyrically, the song sees frontwoman Christie Simpson confronting her journey after an ADHD diagnosis, balancing grief for lost time with the relief of self-acceptance.
“For months, I was overwhelmed with grief, joy, frustration, acceptance, relief, and struggle,” Simpson says. “Things didn’t always feel easier post-diagnosis — often harder, even now. This song is a signal to my inner child, and a manifestation of acceptance. It’s a goodbye to the life I lived so long ‘inside the drag.’ It’s about releasing myself from the struggle — about letting go.”
The band themselves describe “Drag” with trademark wit: “We wanted the song to feel like slowly rotating in sludge and then screaming the most anthemic chorus at the top of your lungs. Hooks from a 1998 issue of Smash Hits are covered with samples and industrial synth arpeggios from the nonexistent soundtrack of the crossover prequel for RoboCop and The Fifth Element, featuring Silverchair, Shihad, Garbage, Stellar*, Evanescence, and Placebo.”
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
The single arrives with a video directed by longtime collaborator Julian Vares, shot across formats ranging from a battered Mini-DV to a 4K FX6. Drawing inspiration from late-’90s and early-2000s action cinema: The Bourne Identity, Swordfish, Hackers — the clip casts guitarist Josh Burgess as a trenchcoat-clad agent infiltrating the “Christie Command Control Center,” where Simpson appears as a digital overlord. After a car crash, resurrection, and hack-fueled rebellion, the pair bring down the system from within, the screen glitching into oblivion.
Yumi Zouma’s “Drag” is streaming now. Pre-save No Love Lost To Kindness here.
