Yves Tumor
Yves Tumor in 2019
Background information
Also known as	Teams Bekelé Berhanu Rajel Ali Shanti Yvesie Ray Vaughan
Born	Sean Lee Bowie (1990-02-14)February 14, 1990 (age 36) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Genres	Electronic[1][2] experimental[2][3] rock[4] neo-psychedelia
Instruments	Vocals synthesizer keyboards guitar bass drums
Years active	2010–present
Labels	PAN Warp
Website	https://yvestumor.info

Sean Lee Bowie, best known by the recording aliasYves Tumor, is an Americanmusician andproducer ofexperimental music, born inMiami, Florida.

To date, they have released five studio albums:When Man Fails You (2015),Serpent Music (2016),Safe in the Hands of Love (2018),Heaven to a Tortured Mind (2020), andPraise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (2023).

Raised inKnoxville, Tennessee, Tumor started making music at age 16 as an outlet away from "dull, conservative surroundings". Tumor is self-taught, and plays drums, bass, guitar, and keyboards. Describing their experience growing up in Tennessee as unpleasant, Yves moved at age 20 to San Diego, and then after college, to Los Angeles. They metMykki Blanco in 2012, later touring for two and a half years throughout Europe and Asia.^[5]

In the early 2010s, Tumor recorded as Teams, and made music whichAllMusic described as "post-chillwave". They debuted the Yves Tumor project in 2015 with an EP for Berlin's experimental club label Janus, and another one for Blanco's label, Dogfood MG.^[6][3][7] That same year, they released their first album,When Man Fails You (which would later be re-released by Apothecary Compositions on April 29, 2016).^[8][9]

In September 2016, Tumor signed with PAN Records and released their label debut,Serpent Music. Yves had worked on the album for three years after moving toLeipzig, Germany. The album was recorded between Miami, Leipzig, Los Angeles and Berlin.^[5] InPitchfork's review of the album, critic Andy Beta compared Tumor's musical style toJames Ferraro andDean Blunt, and noted their use of "unsettling percussive loops and field recordings to create a mood as if lost in a strange urban landscape."^[10]

In September 2017, Tumor released a compilation album titledExperiencing the Deposit of Faith for free. Later that week, it was revealed through a tour announcement that Tumor had signed toWarp Records. Following the announcement, the artist embarked on a tour with a newaudiovisual show.^[11][12]

In September 2018, Tumor released their Warp debut,Safe in the Hands of Love, with no prior announcement. It was preceded by the singles "Noid" on July 24, "Licking an Orchid" featuring James K on August 29, and "Lifetime" on September 3. The album received universal acclaim from music critics.^[13]Pitchfork's Jayson Greene stated in the review that the album "dwarfs everything the artist has released by several orders of magnitude. The leap is so audacious it's disorienting."^[14]

Tumor's fourth album,Heaven to a Tortured Mind, was released on April 3, 2020, preceded on March 3 by the single "Kerosene" featuring Diana Gordon.^[15]Alexis Petridis, reviewing the album forThe Guardian, awarded it Album of the Week, describing it as "extraordinary: experimental, capable of any genre, with an internal logic powering its shifts in mood.[…] There's real skill involved in coming up with something that sounds coherent while shifting through so many styles."^[16]

In October 2020, Tumor said in an interview withMichèle Lamy " I have another EP and a whole album basically not finished, but ready to start finishing. I've been very busy during the quarantine."^[17] In December 2020, Tumor released the single "let all the poisons that lurk in the mud seep out" in collaboration withKelsey Lu, featuringKelly Moran and Moses Boyd. In July 2021, they released the EPThe Asymptotical World, recorded in collaboration with their bandmates, Chris Greatti and Yves Rothman. Tumor went on an international tour throughout 2022, supported byOctober and the Eyes, Timkoh, andDoss.^[18]

In February 2023, Tumor was interviewed byCourtney Love forInterview, in which they briefly hinted at an upcoming album.^[19] Shortly after, in March 2023, Tumor released their fifth album,Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds), critically acclaimed as an ambitious, "ecstatic fusion of alt-rock and R&B",^[20] "spellbinding art rock",^[21] and a "Romantic, corporeal, gothy" offering that disrupts "hierarchies of gender, race, desire...and performance" via its "intense magnification and worship of life, death and spirituality."^[22] Tumor was part of theCoachella 2023 lineup.^[23]

In 2024, Yves Tumor released a mixtape on their Soundcloud calledAmerican Idol – The Greatest Notes Chapter 1.

In 2025, Yves Tumor collaborated with Nina on the track "We Don't Count", with further collaborations teased. They also collaborated withRosalía andBjörk on the former's track "Berghain" for her albumLux.

Tumor's earlier work was compared to that ofDean Blunt andJames Ferraro, the latter of whom they have collaborated with; however, their more recent music, such asHeaven to a Tortured Mind, has been likened toPrince andDavid Bowie.^[24][25][26]

Tumor has citedThrobbing Gristle as an influence, saying: "Sonically, Throbbing Gristle (were very inspirational). There's something about their music, like the hypnotic trance vibes, that really influenced me. When I moved to Los Angeles after college, a good friend of mine would always play Chris & Cosey records when we were hanging out. I slowly became obsessed with them and started reading aboutGenesis P-Orridge and that whole movement."^[27]

In 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, Tumor designed furniture and furthered their interest inupholstery: "I just got really into my other hobbies, which include architecture and interior architecture, and urban architecture, but I'm not that good at math, so I wanted to scale everything down. I just decided to just start constructing chairs and couches and stools, but I think I'm going to begin welding as opposed to actual construction."^[17]

In the studio and during live performances, Tumor is joined by:

• Yves Rothman – keyboards, synthesizers, rhythm guitar, sampler, electronics, backing vocals, musical director (2019–present)
• Rhys Hastings – drums (2019–present)
• Maro Chon – lead guitar (2024–present)

Former members of Tumor's ensemble are:

• Chris Greatti – lead guitar (2019–2024)
• Gina Ramirez – bass guitar (2019–2024)

• Yves Tumor onWarp

• 1990 births
• Living people
• American ambient musicians
• American experimental musicians
• African-American rock musicians
• 21st-century American musicians
• Musicians from Knoxville, Tennessee
• Warp Records artists
• American expatriates in Italy
• African-American rock singers
• American non-binary musicians
• African-American LGBTQ people
• 21st-century African-American musicians
• PAN (record label) artists

• CS1 Dutch-language sources (nl)
• Articles with short description
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• Use mdy dates from December 2020
• Pages where birth or death is being automatically determined
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