YL Hooi – Untitled

One of our favorite releases of the year, Melbourne-based artist YL Hooi’s Untitled debut on Efficient Space merges the seemingly disparate worlds of post-punk, DIY minimalism, and dub into one beautifully dark collection of sonic compositions. Synthesizers provide the pulse throughout the album’s mostly beatless tracks while Hooi’s voice, treated with a healthy amount of delay and reverb, supply both story and atmosphere. “The lychee, the final scarf, the shaped bell heart. Well when we pepper it… I craved my water.” All the tracks are great, but the climax moment has got to be Hooi’s stripped-back, cold and dubby rendition of Love Joys’ emotional lovers rock classic “Stranger.”

Recommended – Full Listen