Q&A: meet Yuto., Melbourne duo drop silky new EP
Stop what you’re doing right now and take a moment to breathe in all that is Melbourne duo Yuto. These brothers are straight up serving track after track, it’s hard to believe these guys are only at the infancy of their careers. Two weeks ago they dropped their debut EP Self Aware that features 4 amazing up and coming artists from around the country and its a 10/10 would recommend moment from us.
The independent duo fell into music a few years back on a family trip after playing around with a few mixes and learning the ins and outs of producing. Their journey has come off the back of hard work and the drive to continue to grow as artists as well as businessmen as they navigate each facet of managing themselves. Killing it, feel free to come on over and manage my life please.
On Spotify alone, they’ve hit their goal of a lazy 1million plays within a year after their debut. We have nothing but respect for these genuine home slices, they have the talent, flair and attitude to take them to that next level and we will be requesting front row seats to their shows around Aus and NZ.
We caught up with Yuto. to chat about their new EP, what it’s like to work with family and how they plan to close off a solid 2020.
Check out all the feels below:
For those who don’t know you so well can you tell us a little bit about yourselves and how Yuto came to be?
So we are brothers, 2 years apart, and Yuto. came to be on a family holiday. Coben (1 half of Yuto.) downloaded a free version of FL studio, and for the whole trip we were making shitty mixtapes of house/edm music at the time. It was a whole new world to us, we have always loved music but never thought about how it was made. Ever since then we have been infatuated in the process of producing, songwriting and so on. This all happened at the end of 2015. Coben was at the end of year 12 and Daylan 2nd year of Uni. Music was the perfect outlet that we could both bond over.
Your new EP Self Aware is a collection of all the amazing tracks you’ve dropped this year and more, how does it feel to have released your debut EP?
AMAZING, as independent artists you appreciate it that much more with all the extra work & planning gone into the EP. We started this idea over a year ago and to see it finally out is unreal. We have built brick by brick each and every day so that moment when it came out was special, a huge shoutout to all our collaborators on the EP and our distributor Gyrostream who make everything seamless and stress free.
Collaboration is a major contribution to your music, how has it been working with other up and coming artists?
It's been a massive learning curve. Firstly they are all amazing artists in their own right, but they are also all amazing people that we are now close friends with. A real dope thing with music is seeing these people do their own thing and kick their own goals, it's a special feeling.
You’ve officially surpassed 1million streams on Spotify, is this something you thought you’d achieve in one year?
Yes for sure, it's not arrogance it's confidence. Our self belief in our project is always growing and that is why we are where we are. We set that goal December last year, so to hit that earlier than expected was dope!
Pros and cons of working with family, go.
PROS: no bullshit, everything is in house in terms of music decisions; marketing/publicity/spending etc, decisions are made quick, BIGGEST pro is being able to celebrate and share the wins (nothing like it)
CONS: none, honestly cannot think of one, sorry haha.
If you weren’t making music and killing it, what would you be doing and why?
Wow that's tough, honestly we talk about this a bit. We were both heavily involved with trying to be pro athletes when we were on that family trip. When that dream ended, there was a massive hole and the universe filled that with music. We would like to say hopefully still be in music, Daylan would lean towards strategy and music development of young artists (something we are super passionate about) and Coben said mixing and sound design which he currently does for us and other artists.
Would you rather look 10 years older from the neck up, or the neck down?
LOL never seen a question like that before. Both said neck down haha
What’s on the horizon for Yuto?
A lot, another EP in the works for 2021, final release in December for 2020. Once COVID relaxes, start to play shows. Another thing we are exploring is growing into the sync and licensing space, really interested in that area atm.
I think I’d potentially go neck up, a real salt and pepper moment never hurt anyone. Also to say I’m excited for a cheeky final release for 2020 is an understatement, I’m yet to hear a track that haven’t added to my daily rotation.
Check out their new EP below or head to our Picnics, Parks & Pinot Gris👒 playlist to hear some more vibey songs.
By Samuel Seedsman.