“One of the most original and exciting voices of contemporary jazz. ‘Lonely Island’ is a delicate world of sounds – minimalist, intimate, and moving.”

— Era Jazzu - Dionizy Piątkowski (about Lonely Island 2025)

Yumi Ito – Lonely Island
Out September 19, 2025 – enja yellowbird

With Lonely Island, Swiss-Polish-Japanese artist Yumi Ito releases her first solo album — a raw, intimate reimagining of her own work.

For this deeply personal project, she revisits ten original compositions from her critically acclaimed albums Stardust Crystals and Ysla, stripping them down to their emotional core. Recorded live with voice and piano simultaneously, the album preserves the acoustic warmth and spontaneity of each performance — a rarity in today’s studio landscape.

As a classically trained pianist who began her musical path at the age of three under the Suzuki Method, Ito draws on a lifelong connection to intuitive, ear-based learning. Lonely Island marks the first time she incorporates extended solo piano improvisations into a recording, allowing space for vulnerability, reflection, and reinvention.

“These songs have traveled the world with me,” she writes. “They’ve grown and changed through countless performances. Now feels like the right time to return to their essence — to complete the circle and open new doors.”

Lonely Island was recorded and mixed by Lara Persia at Lemura Studio, capturing the vivid energy of a live concert. The first three singles — “Is It You (solo version),” “Little Things (solo version),” and “After The End (solo version)” — are already available on all streaming platforms and YouTube, with more music to come ahead of the album’s release on September 19, 2025 via enja yellowbird.

The solo album will be followed by Ito’s next band release, Distant Voices, in 2026, with an international tour planned across Europe, Asia, North and South America. Distant Voices (2026), will present an entirely new body of work, continuing her evolution as a composer and performer.

Recorded
25th & 26th of March, 5th & 6th of July 2024 at Lemura Recording Studio, Montagnola, Switzerland

Yumi Ito
Vocals, Piano, Composition, Lyrics & Production

Lara Persia (Lemura Recording Studio)
Recording, Editing & Mixing

Magdalena Piotrkowska (Hear Candy)
Mastering

Studio assistants
Giuseppe Loi, Shan Fioravera, Melanie Fernandez Otero

Maria Jarzyna
Graphic design & Typography

Mady Lykeridou
Photography

Paulina Janiuk
Outfit design

Marta Soltys (Ms Muse)
Creative Direction, Supervision

Stoph Ruckli
Consulting

Pre-Order
Lonely Island

Videos & Photos

Love Is Here To Stay (Solo Version)

Is It You (Solo Version)

Stardust Crystals (Solo Version)

After The End (Solo Version)

Little Things (Solo Version)

Love Is Here To Stay (Live at Unterfahrt)

Press & Reviews

“Singer, pianist, and composer with great narrative power.”

— Hessischer Rundfunk 2 (about Lonely Island 2025)

“An emotional journey – with nothing but voice and piano. The classically trained pianist succeeds in creating maximum depth with minimal means – a work that does not need to be loud in order to be heard.”

— eReM Online Magazine - HuGe ***** (album review about Lonely Island 2025)

  • Fans of Portishead, Tori Amos, Björk, Sade, and the vocal acrobatics of Bobby McFerrin will feel right at home here. The vocal surfing between styles is extraordinary, and it’s hard to believe that all these tracks feature the voice of a single artist. I can’t stop listening. A fantastic album!

    — Wprost Kultura Magazine, Maciej Drzażdżewski (about Ysla 2023)

  • What made me fall in love with Yumi is the combination of the vocal tones of Björk, Fiona Apple, and Regina Spektor. The most wonderful thing is that despite this, she remains distinct and uniquely herself. I greatly admire her for her vocal courage and the uncompromising approach she takes. ‘Ysla’ is exceptional. Authentic. Beautiful in its essence.

    — Jazz Soul, Przemo Urbaniak (about Ysla 2023)

  • Very powerful when she elevates her scat singing like in “Drama Queen” and is accompanied only by bass and drums: so much fire, so much expression.”

    — Jazzreportagen, Rainer Ortag (European showcases Jazzahead! 2024)

“One of the most original and exciting voices of contemporary jazz. Lonely Island shimmers with shades of Debussy, Norah Jones, Ólafur Arnaldsn, and Tori Amos. It echoes impressionism, Brazilian rhythms and film landscapes. A delicate world of sounds - minimalist, intimate, and moving.”

— Era Jazzu - Dionizy Piątkowski (about Lonely Island 2025)

„She is a sound explorer. She loves to accompany herself on the piano: repetitive motifs, which she sings wordlessly, are approached with the same seriousness as hymn-like passages. Her music thrives on nuances and fine shades, on beautiful tonal fusions. Guidance through her sonic cosmos is given by her voice – at times relaxed and light, then powerful, incantatory, hymn-like. With just a few notes, she creates a world of her own.”

— Bayerischer Rundfunk - Beatrix Gillmann (about Lonely Island 2025)

“Bird-like vocal sensation!”

— Süddeutsche Zeitung (Album Release Konzert Review Unterfahrt 2023), Oliver Hochkeppel

  • Yumi Ito is a multifaceted and visionary musician who has forged a uniquely personal path as a jazz singer-songwriter.

    — Radio Bremen Zwei, Till Lorenzen (about Ysla 2023)

  • One talent that cannot be taught is Yumi Ito’s gift for writing songs that are grand, layered, significant, enticingly diffuse, sometimes unfathomable, and often quite magical.

    — REVIEW Abendzeitung München (about Ysla 2023)

  • The Swiss Yumi Ito is one of the European vocal discoveries of recent years. With an irresistible timbre all her own, she sings self-composed songs that combine the simplicity of pop with the complexity of jazz.

    — SWR 2, Ssirus W. Pakzad