Photo by Timothy Aaron Bryan
Yoo Doo Right are an experimental rock outfit based in Montréal, Canada. Their music weaves contemplative melodies, rich chromatic harmonies, and manifold effect chains into resilient cadences that anchor a shifting landscape of sounds and structures; Justin Cober (electric guitars, bass VI, synthesizers, piano, tape recordings, voice) and John Talbot (drums, percussion) creating a unique sound where “towering monoliths of roaring riffs crash against swarms of restless rhythms” (Pop Matters)”. Since forming in 2016, they have released three full-lengths and three EPs, as well as a handful of collaborations and singles, whilst also touring extensively in Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America. Their fourth long-player, Build and Rest by the Shepherd’s Light, is scheduled for November 6th, 2026 via Mothland.
Live, Yoo Doo Right are as loud and assertive as they are dynamic and ethereal, Allie Gregory at Exclaim! praising their “rhythmic synchronicity” and “near-telepathic connectivity”. The Austin Chronicle describes their live performance as “a gargantuan bash, its instrumentals loud and distorted enough to collapse upon themselves in a chain reaction of musical mass.” Under the Radar’s Dom Gourley praises “the sheer intensity and sonic propulsion of their set.” Never shying away from touring opportunities has led them onto multiple stints in Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America. Along the way, they have received invitations from notorious events such as Le Guess Who, SXSW, Levitation, Left of the Dial, Reeperbahn Festival, Amplifest, Dunk! Fest, Sled Island, Treefort Music Fest, and M for Montreal, also sharing the stage with the likes of Acid Mothers Temple, DIIV, A Place to Bury Strangers, Wooden Shjips, and Kikagaku Moyo.
Yoo Doo Right’s first two EPs—Nobody Panicked and Everybody Got On (2016) and EP2 (2017)—served to introduce the band’s bombastic approach to psychedelia, while their 7” split (2020) with legendary Japanese experimental titans, Acid Mothers Temple, proposed a more motorik feel. Their debut full-length Don’t Think You Can Escape Your Purpose (May 21st, 2021 via Mothland) was described by Paste Magazine as “sometimes vigorous and verging on total collapse and sometimes delicate and measured, [...] a gift that never stops giving.” About their Polaris Music Prize long-listed effort, A Murmur, Boundless to the East (June 10th, 2022 via Mothland), Flood Magazine writes: “The post-everything krautrockers’ sophomore album is a towering release fit for nebulous contemplation and feelings of foreboding astral projection.” For the production of earlier works, the group turned to visionary artists such as Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Suuns, Ought, Fly Pan Am), Seth Manchester (Battles, Lightning Bolt, Lingua Ignota), Efrim Menuck (GY!BE, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, All Hands_Make Light), Guillaume Chiasson (Bon Enfant, Ponctuation, Jesuslesfilles), Sébastien Fournier (Avec le Soleil sortant de sa bouche, Panopticon Eyelids, No Negative), and Braids’ Austin Tufts and Taylor Smith; while also visiting pristine studios including Hotel2Tango and Breakglass.
The Sacred Fuck EP (March 15th, 2024 via Mothland) was a departure from previous endeavors, the Montréal group experimenting with found-sound, field recordings, and sonic collage, momentarily straying away from the high-decibel musical juggernauts we’ve growned accustomed to. That same year, Yoo Doo Right visited Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, RI to record their third full-length album. From the Heights of Our Pastureland (November 8th, 2024 via Mothland) was also long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize, Clash Magazine calling it “their strongest album to date” and praising the band for having “the power and might of an orca.” BrooklynVegan calls it “a torrential rain of komische-infected doomy post-rock”. More recently, the experimental rockers teamed up with multi-instrumentalist virtuoso, Nolan Potter (Austin, TX), and psychedelic rock trio Population II (Montréal, QC) to record a one-of-a-kind long-player meshing elements from krautrock, free jazz, and noise. Yoo II avec Nolan Potter (September 12th, 2025 via Mothland & The Reverberation Appreciation Society) was an impromptu meeting of like minds, recorded during a two-hour session in one small room.
Yoo Doo Right to unveil a new chapter from their sonic manifesto: Build and Rest by the Shepherd’s Light (November 6th, 2026 via Mothland); a fourth full-length recorded alongside Ky Brooks at Hotel2Tango and Error 403, mixed by Seth Manchester at Machine with Magnets, and mastered by Amar Lal at Macro Sound..
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Press
“At times of global crisis, Montreal post-rock three-piece Yoo Doo Right try to channel their distress in positive directions, and their third album, From the Heights of Our Pastureland, finds them looking for ways to rebuild what is broken.”
“This is a herculean effort of exploration, yielding an expansive sound with rich dynamics.” “Their powerful “wall of sound” approach is all-engulfing in a warm, delicious sonic embrace”
“ Yoo Doo Right wallop you for 42 minutes with a torrential rain of komische-infected doomy post-rock, but it leaves you not with defeat but a battered, bruised — but not overthrown sense — of catharsis. Hopefully that is a harbinger as well.”
“If From the Heights of Our Pastureland can lay any claims at this moment, it is that it may well become a waypoint for anyone who comes across it in difficult times. Its layers and variations in pace honor that certain kind of tumult and hurt that seems, sadly, all too familiar; but its players’ sheer tangible power, fury, and passion—and the love that informs those phenomena—reflects the innate instinct to endure, to survive, to live.”
“Fusing together elements of krautrock, psychedelia and shoegaze, the trio are arguably one of the most inventive outfits on the burgeoning Quebec underground scene right now.”
“Towering monoliths of roaring riffs crash against swarms of restless rhythms. However, it consistently maintains a certain airy dexterity of creation and being.”
Highlights
Awards
Polaris Music Prize - Long List 2023
Polaris Music Prize - Long List 2022
Post-punk/Post-rock album of the year - GAMIQ 2022
Shared stage with:
A Place To Bury Strangers, The Underground Youth,
Lorrelle Meets The Obsolete, Kikagaku Moyo,
Acid Mothers Temple, Wooden Shjips, DIIV, Jessica Moss, FACS, FRIGS, HSY