When the letters YACHTare put together in sequence and printed in caps, it creates a shorthand code of sorts that means:
JONA BECHTOLT
and
CLAIRE L. EVANS
…are performing and making music, as well as objects, events, texts, video, products, websites, and other miscellaneous things. This has somehow been happening for ten years now.
THANK YOU!
We currently live in Los Angeles, California, but we both grew up in Portland, Oregon, and consider Marfa, Texas to be our “spiritual home.” These three places come together to form what we lovingly refer to as the Western American Utopian Triangle.
We’ve made five full-length albums of music, the two most recent of which were released on the wonderful DFA Records. The two previous albums were released on a label called Marriage Records, which is now transitioning into a contemporary art museum in Portland, Oregon. The very first album was released on States Rights Records, an incubator for music like White Rainbow, Lucky Dragons, Jib Kidder, and more.
In 2002 YACHT started as Jona’s solo venture, only to double in size when Claire joined in 2008. You should’ve seen the ceremony, it was beautiful. Speaking of beautiful, since 2010 YACHT’s live performances have included our very best friends Bobby Birdman and Jeffrey Jerusalem as players, collaborators, and irreplaceable additions to the enterprise.
In every form–solo, duo, and band–YACHT has been incredibly fortunate to tour around the world with bands that very well could be the reason you’ve even heard of YACHT. Some of our favorite tourmates were: LCD Soundsystem, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hot Chip, Architecture in Helsinki, Dirty Projectors, Vampire Weekend, and Chairlift.
We’ve been privileged to make remixes for Snoop Dogg, Kings of Leon, Phoenix, Neon Indian, Stereolab, RATATAT, Classixx, and many more. We love making these.
Enough about us, how are you? What have you been up to? Here’s our new video:
PRESS QUOTES
“[Second Summer] is the first song I heard in 2013 that I fell in love with” — Gawker
“Whatever lies beyond, it’s going to have a groove” — The New York Times
“Filled with irresistible hooks and beat-heavy laptop wizardry” — NPR
“Precisely programmed digital ear candy” — Rolling Stone
“Dreamy pop tracks that sound like artifacts from another planet” — Billboard
“Brainy and block-rocking rarely coexist like this” — Entertainment Weekly
“A blazing pop package… genius” — Dazed and Confused
“Artisanal cotton candy: one part Tom Tom Club, one part Yoko Ono” — The New Yorker
“Dancing and thinking at the same time—that’s their thing” — The Village Voice
“When it comes to summer soundtracks, it doesn’t get much better than YACHT” — Teen Vogue
“The propelling beats and the catchy repetitive mantras are irresistible” — Vanity Fair
“A more modern take on Suicide, Sonic Youth, Bush Tetras and ESG” — Variety
“DFA’s weirdest band” — CMJ
“Being indie rock’s Timbaland ain’t easy” — VIBE Magazine
“YACHT’s not just music, it’s a way of life” — PAPERMAG
“A triumph” (Best New Music) — Pitchfork