The Swiss synth-pop eccentrics return with a hypnotic, existential summer groove that proves they are still running the race on their own terms
Forty-seven years into their career, Zurich’s premier electronic subversives Yello are still operating in a time zone entirely of their own making. On their latest single, “Around The Sun”—released to streaming platforms on June 19, followed today by a striking new music video—the duo of sound wizard Boris Blank and conceptual art-pop vocalist Dieter Meier deliver a track that is equal parts late-night dancefloor meditation and existential roll call.
At ages 72 (Blank) and 81 (Meier), most of their post-punk and synth-pop peers have either retired to the heritage touring circuit or faded into the digital ether. Yello, however, are still driving the sleek, aerodynamic sports car they built in 1979.
Where their iconic, era-defining hits like “Oh Yeah” and “The Race” relied on frantic, hyper-kinetic edits and booming, cartoonish bravado, “Around The Sun” finds the duo in a smoothly hypnotic, mid-tempo groove. Boris Blank’s production remains a masterclass in high-fidelity audio; the percussion crisp, the bassline deep and undulating like a warm oceanic current, and the synthesizers shimmering with an elegant, retro-futuristic gloss. It’s an infectious summer record, but one dipped in cool twilight.
Over this immaculate electronic canvas, Dieter Meier steps to the microphone with his signature gravelly, spoken-word baritone. Meier has always sounded like a worldly, slightly cynical billionaire who just wandered into a nightclub after an international art heist, and his lyrics here lean hard into the absurd lottery of human existence—”Some are standing on this planet, circling ’round the sun”—it’s an unexpected flash of philosophy from a band famous for vocalizing nonsensical dadaist hooks.
Meier questions the illusion of agency in a world where we are thrown randomly onto a spinning rock, bound to a rat race we didn’t sign up for.
Yet, because this is Yello, the existential dread is quickly met with a smirk—it unfolds with a rhythmic cadence that operates less like traditional singing and more like a beat-poet navigating a high-end tech presentation.
The single arrives alongside a visually arresting music video released today. Filmed in Havana, Cuba, back in 1985, the striking, black-and-white archival footage expands on the track’s cosmic themes, showing the duo cruising through the city and performing alongside showgirls. “Around The Sun” is a potent reminder of why Yello remains a foundational cornerstone for generations of electronic producers.
They aren’t trying to placate to radio trends; they are simply standing on this planet, circling ’round the sun, and making some of the most sophisticated, beautifully eccentric electronic music alive.
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