Yellow Days

George van den Broek, who has recorded under the moniker Yellow Days since he was ateenager, wanted to remove all the showy clutter and excess from his work and get back towriting songs. Straightforward, elemental songs about the subjects and scenes that haveenchanted popular music since the dawn of the form: love, a chance encounter, a dance, thespark between two people. Working alone, playing all instruments, George recorded like he“was 15 again” and the result isSlow Dance & Romance,a five-song EP of love tunes thathonor two of his heroes, beloved reggae lover-man Alton Ellis and Motown genius StevieWonder. They’re perhaps the gentlest, dreamiest songs in his catalog, music to slip away to.

Raised in Surrey—“out in the countryside”—George is an entirely self-taught musician who fellin love with American R&B when he was young. Soul pioneer Ray Charles quickly became hisnorth star, though he also found inspiration in contemporary iconoclasts like Thundercat andMac DeMarco. He picked up the guitar at age 11 and even now, at 23, he possesses taste andcuriosity beyond his years. As liable to reference Marvin Gaye as unsung Queens pianist DonBlackman, George is a repository of musical trivia and chops. It would be fun just to listen torecords with him. Thankfully, he makes them too.