The Winter Solstice – the halfway point for the season, when the northern hemisphere reaches its max tilt away from the sun — isn’t until the 21st, and there are plenty of dreary days and chilly nights before the sunny season rolls around. Yet, Yot Club is already focusing on the sunny tomorrow while telling a story from yesterday in “Deer Island.” The third and final single from the upcoming Santolina EP, “Deer Island” – premiering here on HollywoodLife – is an up-tempo breeze wafting off the temperate waters of a deep vibe. The post-punk/alt-rock bop tells a story of an onlooker, one who watches a world full of people “out on the docks” who are “punchin’ the clocks,” and they choose to row away from it all.
“Deer Island is a tiny island with no residents,” says Ryan Kaiser, the music maestro behind Yot Club, tells HollywoodLife. “You can see it from the coast, and I’ve always thought it looked super creepy and liminal. One night, I read about a guy that used to live there alone in a shack. He would paddle out to fishermen and tourists and sing for them, and they would throw him tips. Everyone referred to him as the hermit of Deer Island, and he was apparently very well-liked throughout town. I just thought it was a cool story, and it shows that if you do what you love, people will almost always be supportive even if it’s weird.”
Santolina, the latest Yot Club EP, arrives in January 2022 on Nice Guys Records. With a new, focused sound born out of the global pause that was the 2020 pandemic, Ryan connected with Nice Guys Records to release Nature Machine. In 2021, Yot Club blew up after “YKWIM?” went viral on TikTok, soundtracking countless videos of GenZ angst. The success translated into numbers, with “YKWIM?” racking up over 144 million streams on Spotify alone. Yot Club put out a YKWIM? Ep that featured five remixes, allowing TikTokers to use it, no matter their mood.
Yot Club kept the momentum going with singles “Alive” and “Hole,” heralding Ryan’s arrival. With elements of post-punk, indie pop, shoegaze, synthwave, and desert love, Santolina will see Yot Club sail to a new level of success. 2022 will also see them come to your town. The band announced a tour with Reptaliens, kicking off Jan. 24 in Salt Lake City. Tickets are on sale now.