A taste of Armenia within the nooks and crannies of Montreal
Energetic, Raw & Melodic.
Enter the tape and press play for a ballad of heartbreak made better with groovy Rock beats.
On 24 June, the Armenian Montreal-based band Yöcto and Yötta released their newest single “In Tales.”
Formed in 2018, Yöcto and Yötta (pronounced Y~eu~cto and Y~eu~tta) are a self-proclaimed Garage band duo made up of Georges Mahseredjian on the bass, and Georgik Barsemian on vocals and guitar.
When a fellow mutual friend and producer from Twin Mountains Studio organized a summer festival for all the artists attached to the label, Barsemian was asked to come and play guitar for one of the acts. As fate would have it, Mahseredjian was also playing the drums for the same act.
“In that moment, I really wanted to take the opportunity to establish himself as an artist as well,” Barsemian says. “I asked Georges if we could play together for a few songs. Thus, the project Yöcto & Yōtta began! We enjoyed playing together so much that we then started working on original songs!”
The band in its original form is a duo band with Mahseredjian responsible for the drum tracking and Barsemian on vocals and guitars. The bass tracks are recorded by the producer to make the tracks sound full.
“On social media the band has a different lineup in Armenia but that’s only for live shows,” the band says. “Those members are not responsible for writing or recording new tracks.”
The members in question would be Amiroseyn Vafaei on the bass and Hrag on drums.
Why the name “Yöcto and Yötta”?
“This is probably the first question that everyone asks us.” the band says. “The name has a scientific background. Yocto and Yotta are each a metric unit prefix. Yotta is the largest unit prefix that represents a magnitude of 10^24 of any measurable quantity and Yocto is the smallest unit prefix that represents a magnitude of 10^-24. Together they represent a spectrum. For example, it’s possible to measure a distance with yoctometers and a weight in yottagrams, just like kilograms.”
“[The song] comes from a personal breakup experience,” the band says. “The idea with this song was to make it as a story with a journey where in the first verse, the character in focus is remembering their previous partner, almost feeling like their relationship was a fairy tale with a happy ending. Later in the second verse, it portrays them trying to move on and possibly find a new partner but it’s unsuccessful, partly because they are still hurt and haven’t fully accepted that their relationship has ended.”
Indeed, the song truly is befitting of its name “In Tales,” as one can picture the setting as so:
A lonely man at the corner of a bar, nursing his third whiskey glass, his vision blurry and the will to get up slowly fading with every thimble he consumes. As he downs his last gulp, he slams the drink down on the counter and begins to belt out his sorrow, counting his tale to whoever listens.
Yesterday I thought about you
And everything we came through
It seems so long
That I haven’t seen you smile
But I’m happy the way we buried
Ourselves and came across with new names
But you’re the devil with bad sense of humor
knocked my cold with what she said
The tempo goes well with the ballad-like feel of the lyrics, with the guitar and drums accompanying the words. When the lyrics are sung in a more of a matter-of-fact way, recounting a series of events that led to the artist’s sad demeanour in the verses, it’s more of a backup, a “fun” like accompaniment if you will. As the vocalist becomes more riled up, and the chorus is sung the beat goes faster and turns more intense.
Barsemian’s biggest musical influence would be Jack White, who is known for his raw guitar playing style and visual thematics while Mahseredjian has more of a thrash metal background**.
(Technical terms explained:
Thrash metal is an extreme sub-genre of Heavy Metal music recognized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo. Known bands are: Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax — known as the Big 4 of Trash)
“But in terms of our band,” Barsemian explains, “[Mahseredjian] takes a lot of influence from the minimalistic playing style and song structure in Royal Blood’s music.”
Royal Blood are an English rock duo formed by Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher in Worthing in 2011. Their music is characterized as a mix between various genres of Rock, namely Hard Rock, Garage Rock, Psychedelic Rock and Heavy Metal.
Barsemian and Mahseredjian both are of Armenian origins, and strive to incorporate their culture in their music as best they can.
“There’s definitely some musical gold mines that need to be uncovered from within the Armenian and Middle Eastern cultures in general,” they say. “System of a Down is a big inspiration to us for having incorporated those patterns and melodies in their music. But there’s still more that can be done. It’s definitely a challenge to find that middle ground between American rock n’ roll and Middle Eastern music. Our biggest attempt to combine those two has been through our instrumental rack “Find Yourself”. But once we get more comfortable with writing music, we will definitely try to incorporate those patterns that come from our culture and roots.”
While based in Montreal, the band is currently in Armenia playing a number of shows — and the difference between the two cities is, according to the members, staggering.
“The biggest difference is that in Armenia a lot of the local live venues would give the option to either pay the band or let them sell tickets,” they say. “Also, a lot of venues in Armenia have the pull power to get people to show up whether they love the show or not. In Montreal, we have to basically run around and beg our friends to show up. It feels much harder to grow as an artist.”
And with that, make sure to follow Yöcto and Yötta on all their socials, and stream their newest single “In Tales” on all available platforms.
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