Yunè Pinku is throwing a rave in space, and everyone’s invited. Fresh from releasing one of 2022’s best debut EPs in ‘Bluff’ – a hypnotic yet introspective dance record that felt equally at home booming out of nightclub speakers or filling your headphones on the last train home – the south London-based electronic producer, singer and songwriter is now blasting off from her bedroom studio to a “weird, cyberpunk world”, her transfixing techno-meets-garage sound very much on board.
Pinku’s second EP ‘BABYLON IX’ thematically draws from a curious collection of influences: ancient myths, Pinku’s own self-described “deep dive” into AI’s potential spirituality (robot-penned Oasis album aside, no doubt) and, er, WALL-E have all been namechecked by the Malaysian-Irish artist in the run-up to its release. Fortunately, neither an informed understanding of the metaverse or Disney/Pixar’s filmography are prerequisites for delving into this EP – not when there’s a six-pack of effervescent, future-facing dance tunes to devour.
“Can you make it make more sense to me?” Pinku airily asks in the opening line to ‘Trinity’, the EP’s fizzing introduction, as a mesmerising array of synths and samples coalesce to set the tantalising tone for its creator’s newfound sonic setting. There is some frustration, then, that following track ‘Heartbeat’ doesn’t quite help the EP ascend to its next natural level. Still, given that it unfolds into an ethereal electronic ballad that vividly describes “painting the doom”, it’s still an entirely compelling part of Pinku’s otherworldly collection.
As the electrifying ‘Sports’ – an “angry version” of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’, according to Pinku – booms out, though, the party really gets started. An unshakable synth bassline and a shuffling rhythm section initially serve as a call-to-the dancefloor, before gigantic breakbeats ring out to end all doubt about this track’s euphoric intentions. “Hey, what’s up / TV’s boiling over, love,” Pinku eye-rollingly sighs to a screen-obsessed companion, simultaneously calling out anyone who might dare to disengage from Pinku’s party with some idle scrolling.
‘Night Light’ and ‘Fai Fighter’, both released as singles prior to ‘BABYLON IX’’s arrival, follow the ambient trance of ‘Blush Cut’ and add to Pinku’s growing canon of stratosphere-shattering bangers. The former takes just seven seconds to burst into life with wobbling synths and pummelling, garage-indebted beats, while its digital-lovestruck lyrical narrative sees Pinku forlornly note “everybody’s saying that we’re in love / For what that’s worth” before eventually coming around to the idea that “you make it better / Better together, better forever”.
Closing track ‘Fai Fighter’ opens with a shattering scream that practically echoes across the universe, before laser-zapping synths and more brilliantly disaffected lyrics (“Do you endeavour? / My head you sever / Oh babe, whatever!”) up the ante even further. It’s a fittingly bombastic close to an EP that shoots for the stars and succeeds – given that it was the work of Yunè Pinku, mind, it was never going to miss.
